| Meghalaya, Nagaland Assembly polls begin: Congress looks to retain hold, BJP looks for clean sweep in Northeast | | | Agencies
NEW DELHI: Voting is underway in the Assembly elections in Meghalaya and Nagaland amid tight security. While the two states have a 60-member house each, voting is being held only for 59 constituencies in both. With consecutive victories in Manipur and Assam, the BJP is hoping for a clean sweep in Meghalaya and Nagaland. Simultaneously, the Congress is seeking to regain its hold in the northeast.
The results of the polls in the two states will be declared on Saturday, along with those of Tripura whose voters cast their ballot on February 18.
Polling began at 7 am today and will end at 4 pm, except in some polling stations of the interior districts of Nagaland, where the process is scheduled to conclude at 3 pm. As of 1:30 pm, the poll percentage in Nagaland was 56% and in Meghalaya, it was 28%. Here are the top developments of the day from both states:
MEGHALAYA
*There are 370 candidates in the fray in Meghalaya. A total of 18.4 lakh voters are eligible to exercise their franchise in 3,083 polling stations in the state.
* Meghalaya's chief electoral officer R Kharkongor said a total of 106 companies of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) were deployed, along with the state's armed personnel and police, especially in the troubled Garo Hills region. Six additional companies of CAPF were deployed in the troubled East and South Garo Hills districts.
* For the first time, 67 all-women polling stations and 61 model polling stations are in operation in Meghalaya.
*As many as 580 polling stations are categorised as 'vulnerable' and strict security measures are in place across the state to ensure a free-and-fair election. 340 polling booths have been categorised as "critical" while 67 have been categorised as 'vulnerable' as well as 'critical'.
*The BSF has also been asked to keep a close vigil along the 443-km-long India-Bangladesh border, Kharkongor said. The Election Commission (EC) has appointed 43 observers to ensure hassle-free polls, he added.
NAGALAND
*Election to the 60-member Nagaland assembly began at 7 am today amid tight security as more than half of 2,156 polling stations were declared critical. A total of 11,91,513 voters -- 6,01,707 (50.50 per cent) men and 5,89,806 (49.50 per cent) women will exercise their franchise today. There are also 5,925 service voters.
* With Nationalist Democratic People's Party chief Neiphiu Rio winning unopposed the Northern Angami-II seat, polling is being held in 59 seats.
*The election process in Nagaland began on a shaky note with the Core Committee of Nagaland Tribal Hohos and Civil Organisations advocating a "solution (to the Naga political issue) before election" is held. Following this no-election diktat, political parties initially kept away from the poll process and the first batch of 22 contestants filed their candidature only on the penultimate day on February 5, though filing of nominations had begun on January 31.
* Ahead of elections yesterday, one person was injured in a bomb blast in a polling station in the Mon district of Nagaland.*To ensure peaceful and safe polls, officials said many as 281 companies of the CAPF have been deployed throughout the state, in addition to the state police force. All the polling stations would be manned by the CAPF personnel and the state police would also be assisting them, he added.*Nagaland chief electoral officer Abhijit Sinha said of the 2,156 polling stations in Nagaland, 1,100 were declared critical, 530 vulnerable and 526 normal. Over 15,000 government employees are on poll duty while there are 177 all-women polling stations across 25 constituencies in the state.Sinha said there are 55 election observers, include 22 general and expenditure observers each and 11 police observers, besides 442 micro observers. Electronic voting machines with Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail machines will be used for voting, he added.
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