March 5, 2008 70 % Voting Recorded
in Nagaland Polls
Kohima
An estimated 70 percent voting was recorded in Wednesday's election
to the 60-member assembly of the northeastern state of Nagaland. The
Congress party and the Nagaland People's Front (NPF)-led regional
combine were the main challengers In the election.
"The turnout of voters was encouraging and we estimate that some 70
percent had cast their ballots. We are still getting inputs from
remote areas and the poll percentage could be higher," an election
official said.
The voting ended peacefully, barring some stray incidents of
snatching of voting machines and a few clashes between supporters of
rival political parties. "By and large the voting passed off
peacefully," the official said.
A total of 1.3 million voters have decided the fate of 218
candidates - 60 from the Congress, 56 belonging to the NPF, 23 from
the BJP, 25 from the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and eight from the
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) among others.
The votes will be counted Saturday. Although the two main Naga rebel
groups - the Isak-Muivah and Khaplang factions of the National
Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) - are observing a ceasefire
with the central government, the authorities are not taking any
chances to ensure security and law and order.
"We have deployed 168 additional paramilitary companies for election
duty and have also kept two MI-17 helicopters ready to rush
personnel of the Rapid Deployment Force to remote areas, if
necessary," a police spokesperson said.
The Congress is making a desperate bid to come back to power because
the regional NPF-led Democratic Alliance of Nagaland (DAN) was in
power in the hill state until the government of Neiphiu Rio was
dismissed and president's rule was imposed in January.
The Congress is trying to capitalize on Naga sentiments by promising
them in its election manifesto that if voted to power, it would push
for their demand for integration of Naga inhabited areas of
adjoining states with Nagaland.
This demand for `Greater Nagaland' is the rebel NSCN (IM)'s main
demand now, but the governments and activist groups in adjoining
states of Manipur, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh re opposed to it.
The NPF on its part has been telling the voters that the Congress
rule in the country is on the wane.
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