The voting for Assembly elections in Nagaland and Meghalaya continues to be peaceful, officials said. While Nagaland witnessed a turnout of nearly 37 per cent (till 11 am), Meghalaya registered a voter turnout of 26.7 per cent.
Though minor incidents of stone pelting and blank firing caused tension in the Bhandari assembly constituency in Nagaland, there was no other untoward incident. The state used to be a hotbed for militants. A tenuous ceasefire holds in the state for more than a decade now as peace talks are continuing with NSCN(IM) and other groups and the central government.
Voting began at 7 am with over 13 lakh electors set to decide the electoral fate of 183 candidates.
The NDPP-BJP is hoping to keep the power in the state and the focus is on Neiphiu Rio, the chief ministerial candidate of the alliance. As per the seat-sharing agreement, the NDPP has fielded candidates on 40 seats and BJP on 20.
As for the Congress, the party has fielded 23 aspirants in the state. The party which was in power in the state till 2003 did not win a single seat in the current Assembly.
The Naga People's Front (NPF), which won 26 seats in the last assembly polls, has fielded candidates in 22 seats. However, just two days before the end of campaigning, the party's candidate from the 4 Ghaspani-I assembly constituency, Vikato Aye, had withdrawn from the elections. NPF leader Kuzholuzo Nienu has declared he is open to post-poll arrangements with other parties and candidates.
Meghalaya
Chief Electoral Officer F R Kharkongor said there was a palpable enthusiasm among voters in the state. "We have noticed enthusiasm among voters in the Khasi Jaintia Hills region and voting is picking up slowly in the Garo Hills, too. Long queues were seen at several polling stations, Kharkongor told PTI.
No untoward incident has been reported thus far and though there were some incidents of malfunctioning of EVMs, those were fixed later. "Polling is being held in a free and fair manner," the CEO said.
In Meghalaya, the contest is tighter since both the Congress and the BJP are contesting in 59 seats. Also in the fray is the TMC which has fielded candidates in 57 constituencies.
The ruling NPP, led by Conrad Sangma, is fighting the polls alone this time, with 56 candidates in the fray. The United Democratic Party has also fielded 46 candidates.
While the BJP is aiming to improve its tally this time, fighting the elections on its own after running the government for the last five years as part of the NPP-led Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA), the Congress, which lost all of its MLAs to other parties in the run-up to the elections, is hopeful of reversing its fortunes with the fresh faces it fielded for the poll battle.
