Over 50pc voter turnout till 4 PM in Nagaland's lone LS seat

The lone Lok Sabha seat in Nagaland recorded a voter turnout of over 50 per cent till 4 pm, the closing time for voting, on Friday, officials said.

The polling began at 7 am.

 

Sources in the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer said the voter turnout figure is an approximate one as the collection of data from polling stations in remote areas takes time.

 

Of the 13.25 lakh voters in Nagaland, 50.41 per cent have exercised their franchise, the officials said. The polling was held, amid a call given by the Eastern Nagaland People's Organisation (ENPO) to abstain from voting in six districts of the region over its demand for a separate state.

 

People in the six districts, which have over four lakh votes spread over 738 polling stations, remained indoors in solidarity with the ENPO.

 

Polling personnel in six eastern districts of Nagaland waited for nine hours in booths, but not one of the four lakh voters of the region turned up following the shutdown call given by the organisation to press for its demand for ‘Frontier Nagaland Territory’.

 

Nagaland Governor La. Ganesan exercised his franchise at Model Polling Station, TT Stadium in Officers’ Hill here, while Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio cast vote at his native village of Touphema in the Northern Angami-II assembly constituency in Kohima district.

 

Congress candidate and party's state unit president S Supongmeren Jamir also cast vote at his native village in Longsa in the Mongoya assembly constituency in Mokokchung district.

 

NDPP nominee Chumben Murry exercised his vote in Wokha town.

Besides Murry and Jamir, Independent aspirant Hayithung Tungoe Lotha is in the fray.