Guwahati: Voting has begun amid tight security in Assam and Tripura for the third phase of the Lok Sabha elections. Four parliamentary constituencies in Assam and one seat in Tripura are witnessing election during this phase.  

Voters, majority being women, queued up to cast their votes even before polling began at 7am. Polling will end at 5pm in four seats in Assam.

This is the third and final phase of voting in Assam. The constituencies of Gauhati, Barpeta, Dhubri and Kokrajhar will see polling on Tuesday.

A total of 74,77,062 voters (38,15,335 males, 36,61,570 females and 157 from the third gender category) will vote in 9,577 polling stations for the four Lok Sabha seats in Assam.

Fifty-four candidates, including perfume baron and sitting All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) MP Badruddin Ajmal, state cabinet minister Pramila Rani Brahma, sitting Independent MP Naba Kumar Sarania, Congress MLA Abdul Khaleque, former MLAs Rafikul Islam, Urkhao Gwra Brahma, Abu Taher Bepari and Zabed Islam are in fray in the third phase of polling.

For the third phase of polling, the Election Commission has set up 147 all-women polling stations in the four constituencies of Assam — 29 in Dhubri, 11 in Kokrajhar, 28 in Barpeta and 79 in Gauhati.

There are 524 remote polling stations for the third phase of polling in Assam.

Around 2.92 lakh under-20 voters will cast their votes during this phase. 

Around 20,000 Central armed police personnel have been deployed in all the 9,577 polling stations in the state.

The first phase polling for five seats in Assam was held on April 11 and a voter turnout of 78.27% was recorded. In the second phase on April 18, five more seats went to the polls, in which a 81.2% voter turnout was recorded.

Voting for the Tripura East constituency was scheduled for April 18, but had to be postponed due to a law and order problem. It is witnessing polling on Tuesday.