Guwahati, April 12 (IANS): Over 52 percent polling was recorded till 1 p.m. in three Lok Sabha constituencies in Assam, with the balloting process being peaceful, an official said.

Brisk balloting was recorded in Silchar, Karimganj and Diphu (Autonomous District) after polling started at 7 a.m., the official said.

While the first two hours recorded over 11 percent polling in all three seats, voting picked up soon and 32.23 percent polling was recorded till 11 a.m.. At 1 p.m., it was recorded at 52.52 percent.

State Chief Electoral Officer Vijayendra said polling remained peaceful in all three seats. "There has been no report of any untoward incident from anywhere so far," he said.

In a few polling stations, however, technical snags in electronic voting machines were reported.

Of the 2,926,762 eligible voters in the three constituencies, 1,400,594 are females.

Authorities said 60 polling stations have been identified as sensitive and 8,880 Assam Police personnel and 204 companies of paramilitary forces have been deployed to ensure smooth polling.

Webcasting will be done in 68 polling stations.

For the second phase of polls, 37 candidates are in the fray. Polling for five constituencies was held April 7, while the third and last phase for the remaining six seats will take place April 24.

Sitting member Kabindra Purkayastha, Congress legislator Sushmita Deb and Kutub Ahmed Mazumder of the All India United Democratic Front (AIDUF) are in the fray in Silchar.

In Karimganj, 15 candidates, including BJP's Krishna Das, Congress's Lalit Mohan Suklabaidya and Radheshyam Biswas of the AIUDF are contesting.

Five candidates, including Congress's sitting member Biren Singh Engti and the BJP's Joyram Engleng, are fighting it out in Diphu.

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