Arunachal sees 55% polling; over 80% cast votes in Nagaland and Manipur
09 Apr 2014
About 55 per cent of the electorate cast their votes in the elections to the two Lok Sabha seats and 49 out of the 60 assembly seats in Arunachal Pradesh, where the simultaneous polling was held peacefully.
In neighbouring Nagaland, on the other hand, around 82 per cent of the electorate cast their votes for the state's lone Lok Sabha constituency.
In Manipur, about 80 per cent of the electorate voted in the elections to the Outer Manipur Lok Sabha seat.
Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Meghalaya and Manipur began voting in the second phase on 9 April.
Elections are being held in the 2 Lok Sabha seats in Meghalaya, a lone Lok Sabha seat in Nagaland, one of the two Lok Sabha seats in Manipur and both the Lok Sabha seats in Arunachal Pradesh.
The vote percentage in Arunachal Pradesh is likely to go up as reports from interior districts are yet to be received, Election Commission sources said.
Long queues of voters were seen outside the booths after the deadline for voting ended at 5 pm.
In Nagaland, 82 per cent of the 1,182,903 electorate had cast their votes as polling ended at 4 pm.
Polling was peaceful and no untoward incidents were reported from anywhere in the state, officials said.
Nagaland had seen 90 per cent voter turnout in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections.
In Arunachal Pradesh, elections were held in the Western and Eastern parliamentary constituencies.
In the assembly elections, the Congress won a total of 11 assembly seats uncontested. The winners included chief minister Nabam Tuki from Sagalee constituency.
Polling hours in Nagaland and Manipur was from 7 am to 4 pm, unlike the other north-eastern states where votes can be cast between 7 am and 5 pm due to security reasons.
Naga People's Front (NPF)-led Democratic Alliance of Nagaland (DAN) is in power in Nagaland.
Chief minister and NPF president Neiphiu Rio is contesting the polls against Congress candidate KV Pusa. The NPF is a partner of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
Rio is the second chief minister contesting the Lok Sabha polls after his Gujarat counterpart Narendra Modi.
Among the three candidates testing their electoral fortunes, Akhei Achumi is contesting on the Socialist Party (India) ticket.
As many as 33 companies of the central paramilitary forces had been deployed to ensure peaceful conduct of the polls.
Over 12,000 polling personnel were engaged in conducting the balloting. The poll panel had appointed four central observers.
.webp)
