Polling officials carry electronic voting machines to a voting center on the eve of the second phase of Indian parliamentary elections at Senapati, Manipur, Tuesday, April 8. India started the world’s largest election Monday where the country’s 814 million electorate will vote in stages over the next five weeks. (AP Photo)
Imphal/Kohima/Shillong/Itanagar/New Delhi, April 8 (AGENCIES): Polling will take place on Wednesday in six constituencies spread across four North Eastern states in round two of the nine-phase Lok Sabha elections.
The Election Commission has deferred the balloting to the lone Lok Sabha seat in Mizoram to April 11 considering the three-day shutdown and poll boycott called by NGOs and students’ organisations. The polling in the state was earlier scheduled to be held April 9.
Voting will be held in one seat each in Nagaland and Manipur and two seats each in Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya. In Arunachal Pradesh, simultaneous elections will be held for 49 of the 60 Assembly seats. In Meghalaya, 15.67 Lakh voters would decide the fate of ten candidates vying for two seats in Shillong and Tura. The campaigning in all these constituencies has already ended.
In Nagaland, Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio will fight the Lok Sabha polls against Congress candidate K.V. Pusa. Among the three candidates testing the electoral waters, Akhei Achumi is contesting on the Socialist Party (India) ticket.
In all, 1,182,903 voters would cast their ballots in 2,059 polling stations to decide the fate of three candidates in the fray for the lone Lok Sabha seat from Nagaland.
In Manipur, polling will be held for the tribal reserve Outer Manipur seat April 9 while the Inner Manipur constituency will vote April 17.
A multi-cornered contest is likely to be witnessed in the Outer Manipur seat as 10 candidates, including a woman, are in the fray.
The ruling Congress has re-nominated its sitting Lok Sabha member Thangso Baite while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has fielded Gangmumei Kamei, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) Kim Gangte, and the Nationalist Congress Party has fielded Chungkhokai Doungel.
The 51-year-old Kim Gangte of the TMC was the first woman parliamentarian from Manipur to be elected to the Lok Sabha in 1998 as a Communist Party of India (CPI) nominee.
Repeal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958, and development are the major issues in the election this year. In all, 911,699 voters, including 463,068 women, are eligible to exercise their franchise in 1,406 polling stations in Outer Manipur constituency.
In Arunachal Pradesh, Western and Eastern parliamentary constituencies will witness a multi-cornered contest among Congress, BJP, NCP, PPA and independents.
Among the eight candidates in the Western seat are Congress nominee and sitting MP Takam Sanjoy locking horns with former MP Kiren Rijiju, a BJP nominee.
For the Shillong (Meghalaya) Lok Sabha seat there are eight candidates with sitting Congress MP Vincent Pala seeking re-election. The other candidates in the fray include United Democratic Party working president Paul Lyngdoh, BJP’s Shibun Lyngdoh, Aam Admi Party candidate Amerington Kharshiing, Richard D Shabong of the CPI and three independent candidates – Prechard BM Basaiawmoit, Denis Siangshai and Ivoryna Shylla.
For the Tura (Meghalaya) Lok Sabha seat there is a direct fight between former Lok Sabha Speaker and president of National People’s Party Purno Sangma against his Congress party rival, Daryl Momin.
Tight security measures have been taken in all the North Eastern states. Border Security Force, Central Reserve Police Force and Assam Rifles have been deployed in large numbers, said an Election Commission official. “Helicopters would be pressed into service and mobile surveillance squads would supervise the election,” the official.
A poll panel notification said that the polling hours have been fixed in Manipur and Nagaland from 7:00am to 4:00pm while in the other North Eastern states the polling hours are between 7:00am and 5:00pm.
SMS based monitoring
system for polling day
system for polling day
KOHIMA, APRIL 8 (MExN): The Nagaland State Election Department will be using an SMS-based poll day monitoring system to supervise the Lok Sabha elections in the State. A press note from the Department informed that the mechanism will include a coded SMS-based alert system. Under the system, all poll officers from across Nagaland State will register their mobile numbers with the central server, set up at Chief Electoral Office in Kohima.
On polling day, the presiding officer will use the SMS service to inform the district headquarters about the start of polling; and update it every two hours.
The new system uses coded SMS text messages through mobile phones to collect data about officials, information about scheduled events like staff reaching the polling station, mock poll conducted, start of polling, voting percentages every two hours, number of voters in queue after voting time was over, and whether the poll party reached safely at the high security Electronic Voting Machine (EVMs) deposit centre.
It was informed that officials on the ground need to punch in a few letters to send various coded SMSs. The information is instantly available online and can be used by the commission and poll officials in the state capital and districts for monitoring and reporting. The State Election Department is implementing the SMS based poll day monitoring system in coordination with the Department of IT & C.
Search your name in electoral roll
To know the status of enrolment in the voters’ list, every registered voter can search their names in the electoral roll by accessing to www.ceonagaland.nic.in. In the voters search, one can type his/her name or EPIC number, based on district/assembly constituency, and get details of the PS station, Sl. no where the concerned voter’s name is enrolled.
Traffic regulations in Kohima
KOHIMA, APRIL 8 (MExN): Kohima Police has informed of traffic regulations in the state capital for April 9. A press note from the SDPO, Kohima notified that all roads leading from Y Junction upto DC Office shall be ‘no parking zones.’ This has been done in view of polling personnel arriving after poll duty from various parts of the district for deposit of poll related material at the earmarked office. Police have appealed for public cooperation and have cautioned that non compliance would lead to towing away of vehicles.
