Nagaland

Men, women and first-time voters in large numbers queued up outside polling stations well before the voting started at 7 a.m. in 16 districts. The election officials said that no untoward incident has been reported so far from any of the 59 constituencies. Voting in 2,291 polling stations, manned by 11,500 staff, will continue till 4 p.m.

Voters, comprising men, women and first time electorates, in large numbers queued up in front of most polling stations before the voting at 59 of the 60 Assembly seats started at 7 a.m. The voting in 2,291 polling stations, manned by 11,500 polling staff, would continue till 4 p.m. without any interruption. Nagaland Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) V. Shashank Shekhar said that around 13.16 lakh voters including 6,55,144 women would decide the electoral fate of 183 candidates including four women nominees in Monday's elections.

Since 2014, the saffron party has been engaged in its goal of a Congress-free India, and has thrown the party out of power in many northeastern states. The BJP is now strategising to win the vote bank of the regional parties in these states. Legislative Assembly elections were held in Tripura on February 16, while campaigning for the Assembly polls in Meghalaya and Nagaland.

Tuesday was the last day for filing nomination papers. Election officials said that the nomination papers and other documents would be examined on Wednesday and the last date of withdrawal of candidatures is February 10. Chief Minister and senior Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) leader Neiphiu Rio has filed his nomination.

After filling his nomination in the Northern Angami-II assembly constituency, Rio said that the NDPP-BJP alliance would comfortably retain power in Nagaland. "There is no doubt that the alliance (NDPP-BJP) would come back to power with a thumping majority. We would soon announce the common minimum programme," the Chief Minister told the media.

Addressing a press conference in Delhi, BJP leader Nalin Kohli said, "We will contest 20 out of the 60 seats in Nagaland. The rest of the seats have been given to our alliance partner NDPP. We will contest on all 60 seats in Meghalaya.

Claiming that the six districts -- Mon, Tuensang, Kiphire, Longleng, Noklak and Shamator -- have been neglected for years, the influential Eastern Nagaland People's Organisation (ENPO) has been demanding a separate state since 2010.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) finalised a seat sharing deal in July last year to contest the 60-member Nagaland assembly elections. The opposition Congress was keen to forge a "secular alliance" with like-minded parties before the elections. India's first all party and opposition-less government, the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) led by the NDPP practically has no strong opposition except some Naga bodies and NGOs. With 12 members the BJP is also an ally of the UDA.

The Naga groups said: "We are left with no other option but to go by the desire and aspiration of the Naga People, i.e.,  Solution not Election'." The anti-solution stance of Nagaland BJP President Temjen Imna Along and his cohorts have greatly hampered the progress and fruition of the Naga political talks, a statement issued by the NNPG said. It claimed that the evasive maneuver, non-committal attitude, and arrogance of the Nagaland BJP President have gone beyond tolerance. Never once did he exhibit genuine concern and commitment for the Naga cause

The creation of separate Garo, Khasi states in Meghalaya, the separate state of 'Frontier Nagaland' and elevation of the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) into "Greater Tipraland State" for the tribals are the key issues in the poll bound three states. The leaders of the national political parties including the BJP, the Congress and the CPI-M, though not supporting the separate state demand, remained non-committal about openly opposing the issue fearing loss of tribal votes.