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Nagaland and Meghalaya Elections Voting: BJP looks to expand footprint in Northeast

By FnF Correspondent | PUBLISHED: 27, Feb 2018, 10:01 am IST | UPDATED: 27, Feb 2018, 10:08 am IST

Nagaland and Meghalaya Elections Voting: BJP looks to expand footprint in Northeast New Delhi: Polling started at 7 in the morning and will go on till 4 in the evening except at the polling stations in some of the interior districts of Nagaland, where votes will be cast till 3 pm.

Women voters in their colourful tribal attires were seen queueing up at polling stations across the state since morning and shops in the vicinity did brisk business.

"Men and women in large numbers queued up in front of many polling stations well before polling opened at 7 am in the entire state," chief electoral officer, Frederick Roy Kharkongor said.

One person reportedly injured in grenade blast in polling booth Tizit town in Nagaland.

One person sustained injuries on left leg when a hand-made crude bomb was lobbed by miscreants 15-20 feet from polling booth in Tizit, Nagaland at 5.45 am, says V Vise, SP of Mon district.

Polling started at 7 in the morning and will go on till 4 in the evening except at the polling stations in some of the interior districts of Nagaland, where votes will be cast till 3 pm.

Nagaland and Meghalaya have a 60-member House each but voting will be held for 59 constituencies in these states.

Anti-incumbency will turn out to be a major factor as the Congress (ruling Meghalaya since 2008) and the Naga People’s Front (ruling Nagaland since 2003) take on an aggressive BJP in the two states respectively. Incidentally, the saffron party was only a minor political irritant until five years ago.

The votes will be counted and results declared on March 3 for both Meghalaya and Nagaland. The election results for Tripura will be announced the same day.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a tweet urged the people of the poll-bound states to turn up in large numbers and cast their votes.

In Nagaland, BJP's ally Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) chief and former Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio was declared elected unopposed from the Northern Angami-II constituency.

In Meghalaya, the election was countermanded in Williamnagar constituency after NCP candidate Jonathone N Sangma was killed in an IED blast in East Garo Hills district on February 18.

In all the three states, the BJP emerged as the principal challenger to the ruling party/coalition during the election campaign. A high-decibel electioneering came to an end in Nagaland and Meghalaya on Sunday evening.

Buoyed by the formation of governments in Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh, the BJP is making a determined bid to expand its footprint in the north-east.

On the other hand, the Congress' hope hinges on its performance in Meghalaya only where it has been ruling for past 10 years.

In Meghalaya, the Congress and the BJP are pitted against each other. While the former has fielded 59 candidates, the latter has put up nominees in 47 constituencies.

The BJP was in power in Nagaland in alliance with the ruling NPF till it snapped ties to form a coalition with Rio's party on the eve of the Assembly election.

However, the BJP ministers continued to hold office in the TR Zeliang government.

In Nagaland, BJP's hope hinges on its alliance partner NDPP of Neiphiu Rio, which is contesting from 40 seats. The saffron party has fielded candidates from the remaining 20 seats.

The Congress, which has given three chief ministers to Nagaland since the state's inception in 1963, is contesting from only 18 seats, two less than the BJP, an emerging entity in the north-east.

Nagaland is going to polls for the first time since the framework agreement between the Centre and the NSCN (IM) was signed in 2015.

Curfew has been imposed in Mokokchung, Phek, Longleng districts and parts of Kohima and Dimapur districts of Nagaland to prevent poll violence.

In Nagaland, former chief minister and leader of newly formed Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) Neiphiu Rio was elected uncontested from the Northern Angami-II seat.
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