Morung Express News
Dimapur | April 11
The official figures in Nagaland may have indicated a polling percentage in the high 70s but doubts prevailed over the actual turnout on the ground.
Proxy voting was reported from several polling stations across the State, casting doubt on the official figures released by the election office.
The doubt was further attested by voters candidly admitting to have voted more than once. One voter from a constituency in Mokokchung said that he voted four times for the Lok Sabha polls without any objection from polling officials. “I entered the polling booth four times and only once was election ink applied on the finger,” the elector said.
In another constituency, reports were received of village authorities voting on behalf of the voters. One voter (name withheld) from one such village disclosed that he did not vote because the village council shouldered the responsibility of casting the votes for the entire village and even for those residing out of the village but registered as voters in the village.
In villages where no such decision was made by the village council, “fair polling” was said to have been conducted. Fair polling in this context implied proxy voting on behalf of friends, relatives and neighbours, who were not in station on polling day. Verbal consent over phone from the absent elector was the justification.
According to one voter, Parliamentary polls in Nagaland do not evoke as much excitement as the Assembly polls. He said that absent voters happen to be migrant labour in other cities or had other emergencies, and could not come home to cast their votes.
The headcount in villages of Nagaland generally dip during the February-November period to surge by late November as the festive Christmas season approaches. There, however, is an exception that occurs during the State Assembly elections when the headcount in the villages drastically increases.
Reports of polling stations wearing a deserted look by noon were received from several places in Dimapur as well. Unlike the tension that normally prevails in the State Assembly elections, polling officials and security personnel had quite an easy going day at work.
Election officials said that an initial rush in the morning turned into a trickle by noon in several polling stations in Dimapur. According to one official in 3 Dimapur III A/C, more than 90 percent voting was completed by noon at a polling station with around 750 electors.
Around the same time, a few youths clutching multiple voter slips thronged a neighbouring polling booth waiting their turn to have the slips verified. As the verification process went on without much ado, one voter was seen voting multiple times with the beep of the EVM registering a ballot going off several times.
At another polling station in Dimapur, a polling official advised "genuine" voters to vote first while assuring proxy voters that they will be allowed to vote later.
Nagaland, as per the official figures, has around 11.63 lakh registered voters with almost 2 lakh voters concentrated in Dimapur district.
