Kohima (Nagaland): Voting to elect a new government in the single-phased Nagaland Assembly polls began on 59 constituencies at 7 am on Monday amid tight security.
The electoral fates of 183 candidates of various parties will be sealed as the voting would continue till 4 pm today.
People were seen thronging the polling stations to cast their votes early in the morning. The state had witnessed nearly 75 per cent voter turnout in the 2018 Assembly polls and 90.57 per cent in 2013.
During the high-decibel election campaign that ended on Saturday, all the contesting parties made a last-ditch effort to win over the voters in bid to swing their mandate in their favour. Many top BJP leaders, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah canvassed for party candidates during the last leg of the campaigning.
The voting is underway in 59 out of 60 Assembly constituencies, as BJP candidate Kazheto Kinimi was declared winner uncontested from Zunheboto district’s Akuluto constituency after his opponent from the Congress, N Khekashe Sumi, pulled out of the race on the last day for withdrawal of nominations, which was February 10.
In Monday’s polls, the BJP is contesting in alliance with the Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP), its old alliance partner in the 2018 Assembly polls as well.
However, the BJP will be the role of a junior partner, having agreed to a seat-sharing ratio of 20:40 in the state. The Congress and Naga People’s Front are contesting 23 and 22 seats respectively. The CPI is contesting on 1, NCP on 12, NPP 12, RPP 1, JD(U) 7, LJP (Ram Vilas) 15, RPI (Athawale) 9, RJD 3, and Independents 19 seats.
The party forged an alliance with the NDPP in 2018 and successfully formed an alliance government with the backing of Janata Dal (United) and an Independent. The BJP had won 12 seats, NDPP had registered a win on the 17 seats, and the JD(U) clinched 1 seat.
ANI