Tripura recorded a high turnout of 55 per cent, Assam 37 per cent and Sikkim 30 per cent till midday for five Lok Sabha seats in eastern India going which went to polls in the fourth phase of Lok Sabha election on Saturday.
Polling was also held in 32 Assembly constituencies in Sikkim.
In Tripura, tribals, forming the majority of the electorate in the lone East Tripura (ST), were seen waiting to cast their votes in colourful traditional dresses.
Women tribal voters outnumbered men in the polling booths in rural and hilly areas of the state.
There were 12 candidates in the fray including CPI(M)'s Jitendra Chowdhury, who is the state industries minister, Congress' Sachitra Debbarma, a prominent educationist, BJP's Parkshit Debbarma, an ex-armyman, and Trinamool Congress leader Bhriguram Reang.
The CPI(M) had won the seat 11 out of 15 times between 1952 and 2009 and did it consecutively since 1996.
In the three LS seats in Assam, Karimganj (SC) recorded the highest of 40 per cent polling, Silchar 35 per cent and Autonomous District (ST) comprising Karbi Anglong and Dima Hasao districts 36 per cent, election office sources said.
EVM malfunction was reported from the Autonomous District and Karimganj constituencies but they were replaced and voting continued uninterrupted, the sources said.
Long queues of voters, including women and young people, were seen an hour before polling began at 7:00 am.
Of the 37 contestants in the fray, prominent ones were sitting Congress MPs of Karimganj and Autonomous Districts Lalit Mohan Suklabaidya and Biren Singh Ingti respectively, Silchar's sitting BJP MP and former union minister Kabindra Purukayastha besides Congress MLA from Silchar Sushmita Dev, daughter of former union minister Santosh Mohan Dev.
Of the candidates, three each belonged to the Congress and BJP, two each to AGP, AIUDF, AAP, SUCI (Communist) and Samajwadi Party, one each to CPI(M), CPI-ML (L), Trinamool Congress, Shiv Sena and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha. The remaining 19 were independents.
Last night, a huge quantity of explosives, including RDX, gelatin sticks, grenades, detonators, an AK-56 rifle and ammunition hidden by militants in Dima Hasao district were recovered by Assam Rifles and police, AR sources said.
For the first time in the Northeast region and the third time in the country after Kashmir and Bihar, all polling booths were declared smoking free by the EC.
The state election office was web casting the poll process at polling stations.
In the Himalayan state of Sikkim, among the six contestants for lone Lok Sabha seat Tek Nath Dhakal of the newly-launched Sikkim Krantikari Morcha was pitted against sitting SDF MP Prem Das Rai.
There were 121 contestants for the 32 Assembly seats.
Of the total Assembly seats, two were reserved for SC and 12 for the Bhutia and Lepcha communities.
Chief Minister Pawan Chamling, who was looking at a record fifth consecutive time in office was contesting from two places - Namchi-Singhithang and Rangang-Yangang.
SKM leader Prem Singh Tamang, known as P S Golay, was a major contender for Chief Ministership.
Other prominent opposition candidates included SKM's Bharati Sharma from the Soreng-Chakung seat.
Apart from the two home-grown parties, the BJP, Congress, Trinamool Congress and Aam Aadmi Party have also pitted their candidates.
The Congress was contesting on all the seats, the BJP 13 seats and TMC 7. There were also five independents in the fray.
Goa Records 35 Per Cent Polling Till 11 AM
Around 35 per cent voters cast their ballot in Goa till 11 AM on Saturday, though the crowd at the polling booths started thinning out due to excessive heat, officials said.
The voters responded with enthusiasm till 10 am, but the number started dwindling after that.
According to the Election Commission officials, the voting percentage in North Goa was 36.42 per cent till 11 am, while in South Goa it was 34.11 per cent.
Chief Minister Manohar Parrrikar was amongst the early voters when he exercised his franchise at a polling booth in Panaji. He later joined BJP's North Goa candidate Shripad Naik at Ribandar village near here. North Goa Congress Candidate Ravi Naik polled his vote at Ponda booth.
BJP's South Goa candidate Narendra Sawaikar was also seen in Ponda taluka exercising his vote, while his rival Congress candidate Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco voted at Curtorim village, 40 kms away from here.
Former Congress leader Dayanand Narvekar, who is contesting as an independent in North Goa, polled his vote in Mapusa town.
In all 10,60,777 voters will exercise their franchise in both North and South Goa constituencies where major national parties including Congress, BJP, AAP and Communist Party of India (CPI) are in the poll arena.
The women voters outnumber men in the state with 5,32,469 female and 5,28,308 male voters have registered in the rolls.
This morning the polling began at all the 1,624 stations as the election staff had arrived at the spots since last night.
The EC has identified 14 vulnerable and 30 critical polling stations in the state which have been given adequate security cover to avoid any untoward incident.
The polling will conclude at 6 PM.