28.37% voters cast votes in lone Nagaland Lok Sabha seat

KOHIMA: Around 28.37 percent of voters cast their votes till 11 a.m. in the lone Lok Sabha seat in Nagaland amidst a tight security cover, officials said.

Election officials said that so far no voter cast their votes in six Eastern Nagaland districts in view of various Naga groups' call to the people to 'abstain' from Friday's voting in support of their statehood demand. There are around four lakh eligible voters in the six Eastern Nagaland districts.

Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio after casting his vote at a school in Kohima said that the state government has proposed the constitution of an autonomous body for the development of the Eastern Nagaland and people residing in the area.

"The Election Commission has served a show cause notice to the Eastern Nagaland Peoples' Organization (ENPO) for calling the people to abstain from voting," the Chief Minister told the media. Nagaland Chief Electoral Officer R. Vyasan in his show cause notice to the ENPO indicated to take appropriate action under the Indian Penal Code.

Voting for the lone Nagaland Lok Sabha seat began on Friday morning amidst heavy security measures, election officials said. Voters, comprising men, women and first-time electorates, queued up in front of most polling stations before the voting started across the state at 7 a.m. The voting in 2,342 polling stations, manned by over 11,000 polling staff, would continue till 4 p.m. without any interruption.

Election officials said that over 13.25 lakh voters, including 6.64 lakh women, would decide the electoral fate of three candidates - opposition Congress nominee S. Supongmeren Jamir, ruling Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) candidate Chumben Murry and Independent Hayithung Tungoe Lotha. (IANS)

 Also Read: Eastern Nagaland’s 20 Legislators’ Abstain from voting, Polling Booths Deserted (sentinelassam.com)

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