Kohima, 19 Apr: Polling for the lone Lok Sabha seat in Nagaland was peaceful on Friday with a low voter turnout recorded at over 56 per cent, Chief Electoral Officer Vyasan R said.
With over 4 lakh electors from eastern Nagaland abstaining from casting their votes, the “turnout this time is the lowest in the state” as compared to previous elections, he said.
Nagaland had the highest voter turnout in the country at 87.82 per cent in 2014, and 83 per cent in 2019.
The voting began at 7 am, and the turnout was “uniform” throughout the day, the CEO told reporters.
The voter turnout figure is an approximate one as the collection of data from polling stations in remote areas takes time and the final poll percentage will be announced only after the scrutiny of all the documents on Saturday, he said.
Of the 13.25 lakh voters in Nagaland, 56 per cent of electors exercised their franchise, he 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 the 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’.
Replying to the show cause notice by CEO, ENPO said that the “shutdown was a voluntary decision of all the tribal bodies and not imposed by it and that the organisation did not curtail the rights of any individual but all of them stood for the common cause”.
Asked if action would be initiated against the ENPO, Vyasan said that “an order has been issued cautioning the organisation that henceforth adequate care be taken to ensure that no action is taken that may be interpreted as interfering or attempting to interfere with the free exercise of electoral rights of any person”.
There was no report of voting in the ENPO area, he said.
There were complaints of booth capturing in some polling stations in Kohima, Mokokchung and Phek districts by different political parties but the matter was nullified after being verified by the sectoral magistrates, the CEO said.
Asked if any re-poll would be necessitated, Returning Officer for Nagaland Parliamentary election, Sushil Kumar Patel, said that as of now there is no demand for a re-poll but the final call would be taken only after scrutiny of the documents of the polling personnel in the presence of contesting parties on Saturday.
State Nodal Police Officer for Lok Sabha polls, Limasunep Jamir, said barring three criminal cases pertaining to impersonation where three persons were arrested in Wokha district, the entire poll process has been peaceful.
He said that the Electronic Voting Machines have been stored in the strong room.
The polling passed off peacefully without any law and order situation, he said, adding that there would be no post-poll violence in the state.
Nagaland Governor La. Ganesan exercised his franchise at Model Polling Station, TT Stadium in Officers’ Hill here, while Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio cast his vote in 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 his home constituency Wokha Town.
Besides Murry and Jamir, Independent aspirant Hayithung Tungoe Lotha is in the fray.
The counting of votes will be on June 4. (PTI)
