Nagaland elections: 75% polling recorded, one killed in poll violence

February 27, 2018 575 Views No Comment

Naga Republic News

Long line of voters in one of the polling station in Kohima

Seventy-five per cent polling was recorded in the Nagaland Assembly elections on Tuesday, the Election Commission said. However this figure is likely to go up as more update was awaited from poll officials who were yet to report back from their respective outposts. A few repoll is also expected to be announced tomorrow by the Election Commission after scrutiny of today’s election report.

The voting, which began at 7 am, witnessed clashes and a bomb explosion at two places, however, the polling process was not disturbed.

Polling was held for 59 seats of the 60-member Nagaland Legislative Assembly. Voting was delayed in at least 100 polling stations due to the malfunctioning of the electronic voting machines (EVMs).

Voters in Naginimora, Mon district

In Akuluto, one person was killed and two others were injured when the supporters of two political parties clashed during the polling on Tuesday.

The violence erupted when supporters of the Naga People’s Front and the BJP clashed near a polling booth in Akuluto, ANI reported. The polling process, however, was not disturbed, it said.

In another incident, a blast was reported from a polling booth at Tizit village in Mon district about an hour before the voting started. According to PTI, one person was injured in the explosion.

“A handmade crude bomb was lobbed at the polling booth at around 5:45 am, in which one village council member, Yanlon, suffered minor injuries in the leg,” it quoted Nagaland chief electoral officer (CEO) Abhijit Sinha as saying.

A total of 11,76,432 voters—5,97,281 men, 5,79,151 women and 5,884 service voters—are eligible to exercise their franchise in the Nagaland elections.

Chief Minister TR Zeliang with his wife seen here at a polling station in Peren waiting to cast their vote

Meanwhile, addressing the media personnel at the Conference Hall of AMK Building, Kohima on 27^th February, 2018, CEO, Abhijit Sinha, IAS said heavy shower the day before had worsened the road conditions so on the day of poll some polling parties reached the venue quiet late, some even after 12 PM.

About 13000 polling personnel and more than 47000 police personnel were deployed across the state on the day of election. Of the 533 locations for webcasting, about 500 were seen clearly and all the others were covered with videography. A unique arrangement was that in Wokha district one polling station was set up entirely for people with disabilities, he added.

Reporting on the conflicts during the poll process, CEO said at around 5:45 AM in 41-Tizit A/C, in Poll no. 20, a crude bomb was hurled in the adjoining room of the Polling Station and one person got injured, however, polling process had not started and the poll process was held on time. In 31- Akuluto Town, gunfire was exchange between different political parties and one person died, afterwards a lot of forces were sent to the venue and polling process continued normally. In 41-Tizit, Polling Station no. 21, a mob entered damaged the machine before the polling process started, the machine was replaced and polling was conducted.

At polling station no. 1 in Meluri, an unruly mob damaged the machine while polling was going on and no poll was held after that. He further stated that at the Polling Station no. 1 in Ladigarh, poll was adjourned after the Assam Police obstructed some political party people, and further in Tizit, after the completion of polls an unruly mob snatched the machines, EVM was retrieved but not the VVPAT.

Sinha said some areas in Phek were quiet tense but the DC and Security personnel had brought the situation under control. The parties have started coming back to the 12 receive centres, he said, “tomorrow at 11 am, everywhere constituency-wise scrutiny will be done and complaints will be looked into after which recommendation will be done in the late afternoon.” Once the decision is taken by the ECI, date of re-poll will be fixed either on 1^st or 2^nd March 2018, CEO said.

More facts and figures on polling