Polling booths in eastern Nagaland wear deserted look amid shutdown call

    Kohima, Apr 19 (PTI) Six districts of Nagaland reported zero voter turnout till Friday afternoon following an election boycott call by the Eastern Nagaland People’s Front (ENPO) demanding a separate state.
    The state’s Chief Election Officer, Vayasan R, has issued a show-cause notice to the ENPO for disrupting the electoral process and denounced its attempt to exert undue influence.
    Sources said while the situation is peaceful, there is no movement of any person or vehicles except that of the district administration and other emergency services.
    Additional Chief Electoral Officer of Nagaland Awa Loring said election officials are stationed in the 738 polling stations in the six districts of the region.
    These districts are occupied by seven Naga tribes – Chang, Konyak, Sangtam, Phom, Yimkhiung, Khiamniungan and Tikhir. Their demand for separate statehood is also supported by a section of Sumi tribe belonging to the region.
    The ENPO on March 5 had announced an "indefinite total shutdown all over Eastern Nagaland jurisdiction with effect from 6pm on April 18 (Thursday)".
    The organisation has been demanding a separate state since 2010, claiming that the six districts have been neglected for years.
    Of the 13.25 voters in Nagaland, the six districts in Eastern Nagaland have 4,00,632 voters.
    Nagaland CEO Vayasan R said under sub-section (1) of Section 171C of the Indian Penal Code, "Whoever voluntarily interferes or attempts to interfere with the free exercise of any electoral right commits the offence of undue influence at an election."

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)