Nagaland polls: Nearly 13% turnout recorded in first 2 hrs of voting

Nearly 13 per cent voter turnout was recorded till 9 a.m. on Monday in the Nagaland Assembly polls currently underway in 59 of the 60 constituencies amid tight security, election officials said.

Men, women and first-time voters in large numbers queued up outside polling stations well before the voting started at 7 a.m. in 16 districts.

The election officials said that no untoward incident has been reported so far from any of the 59 constituencies.

Voting in 2,291 polling stations, manned by 11,500 staff, will continue till 4 p.m.

Nagaland Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) V. Shashank Shekhar said that around 13.16 lakh voters, including 6,55,144 women, would decide the electoral fate of 183 candidates, including four women nominees.

In the 2018 Assembly polls, 190 candidates, including five women, had contested the elections.

BJP candidate Kazheto Kinimi was re-elected unopposed from the Akuluto Assembly constituency after his only opponent and Congress nominee Khekashe Sumi withdrew his candidature on the last day of the withdrawal of nominations on February 10.

To ensure a free, fair and incident-free election, the Union Home Ministry, at the request of the state government, has provided 305 companies of Central Armed Police Force, while the state security forces have also been deployed across the mountainous state.

In all, 12 political parties comprising national and state parties are in the fray.

The ruling Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party and its partner Bharatiya Janata Party, opposition Congress and the Naga People's Front are the main contenders of the poll battle.

Vote count will be held on March 2 along with Meghalaya and Tripura.