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Polling begins peacefully in Meghalaya, blast in Nagaland

Voting for the assembly elections in Meghalaya began peacefully on Tuesday amidst tight security while, a crude bomb exploded barely…

Polling begins peacefully in Meghalaya, blast in Nagaland

(Photo: IANS)

Voting for the assembly elections in Meghalaya began peacefully on Tuesday amidst tight security while, a crude bomb exploded barely an hour before polling took off in Tizit, Nagaland, officials said.

In Meghalaya, voters in “large numbers” queued up in front of many polling stations well before polling opened at 7 am,” Chief Electoral Officer, Frederick Roy Kharkongor said adding that polling will end at 4 pm.

A total of 18,09,818 electorates, including 9,13,702 women and 89,405 first-time voters are eligible to exercise their franchise to decide the fate of 361 candidates, including 31 women and many independents.

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As many as 340 polling stations have been categorised as “critical” and 580 as “vulnerable”.

Balloting in 183 polling stations will be webcast, to be made available at the offices of Chief Electoral Officer or District Electoral Officer and the Election Commission of India, Kharkongor said.

As many as 66 all-women polling stations and 61 model polling stations have been set up.

In all, 106 companies of central armed police forces have been deployed to ensure peaceful polls, he said.

In Nagaland, one person was injured when the bomb went off at a polling station in Tizit constituency in the eastern part of the state at around 5.45 am, a police official said.

Election to the 60-member assembly began at 7 am with over half of the 2,156 polling stations been declared critical.

With Nationalist Democratic People’s Party (NDPP) chief Neiphiu Rio winning unopposed the Northern Angami-II seat, polling is being held in 59 seats.

Voting will continue till 4 pm, except in some polling stations of the interior districts where it will end at 3 pm.

Officials said many as 281 companies of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF), beside the state police force have been deployed throughout Nagaland to ensure peaceful polling.

Nagaland Chief Electoral Officer Abhijit Sinha said of the 2,156 polling stations in Nagaland, 1,100 have been declared critical, 530 vulnerable and 526 normal.

A total of 11,76,432 voters, comprising of 5,97,281 male, 5,79,151 female and 5884 service voters, are eligible to exercise their franchise during the day to decide the fate of 195 candidates.

There are no third-gender voters in the state while the first time voters between the age group 18-19 years are 26,900, Assistant Chief Electoral Officer, Awa Lorin said.

The results of the polls in both Nagaland and Meghalaya along with those of Tripura will be declared on March 3.

(With inputs from agencies)

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