Kolkata: Women candidates take centre stage in the third and final round of polling in the six constituencies of Assam.
As many as 16 women candidates are in fray in this phase, five more than the 2009 Parliamentary elections, the highest ever since the first general elections.
Among the 16 candidates are two sitting members of parliament - BJP’s Bijoya Chakravorty from Gauhati and Union Tribal Affairs Minister Ranee Narah of Congress from Lakhimpur - both being re-nominated by their party from the same constituency again. The Congress has also given ticket to two sitting state legislators, Jonjonali Baruah from Morigaon and Sushmita Dev from Silchar.
However, the heat wave in the state is giving both the Election Commission of India and the candidates’ trepidation, of a possible lower voter turnout. In the first two phases on April 7 and 12, Assam witnessed an impressive voter turnout of 78.72 per cent and 76.33 per cent, respectively.
On Monday Guwahati recorded temperatures of 40.1 degree Celsius, when the normal temperature at this time of the year is an average 31 degree.
“We are worried, but for the people of this state inclement weather is a part of life and they will come out to vote as they have realized the importance of it,” said Dev.
An electorate of more than 9.4 million, including over 4.5 million women is expected to decide the fate of 74 candidates in 11,994 polling stations of which 920 are hyper-sensitive and 1658 sensitive. The prestigious Guwahati constituency has the 18 candidates in the contest.
Security has been tightened across all six constituencies, particularly in Guwahati, especially since Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his wife Gursharan Kaur are scheduled to arrive in Guwahati and cast their votes at Dispur Government Higher Secondary School around noon. Singh had been representing Assam in the Rajya Sabha, the Upper House of Parliament since 1991.
Central forces have also being deployed in Kokrajhar district, where the NDFB(S) is active and sporadic incidents of pre-poll violence occurred with 75 companies of security forces being deployed. Forces have also being deployed along the states international border with Bangladesh and Bhutan.
