Nagaland Assembly elections 2018 live updates: 56% voter turnout recorded till 1 am

1 person dead, 2 injured after a clash erupted between groups of Naga People's Front and Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party near a polling booth in Akuluto. The polling process was not disturbed, reports ANI.

56% voter turnout in Nagaland till 1 am. 

38% voter turnout recorded in Nagaland till 11 am. 

Story of progress and development begins with a single vote, so I appeal to the people of Nagaland and Meghalaya to come out and vote in large numbers in the Assembly Elections.

— Amit Shah (@AmitShah) February 27, 2018

We expect that polling will finish smoothly and we will get an absolute majority as per voice of the people. We hope peace will prevail in the state and we will move for Naga political solution, says Nagaland CM TR Zeliang.

One persons injured in a bomb blast in a polling station in Tizit in Mon District.

#NagalandElection2018: Voting underway at a polling station in Peren district's Jalukie pic.twitter.com/1YzSVzdMJo

— ANI (@ANI) February 27, 2018

Voting underway at Shillong model polling station North; Congress' Roshan Warjri is the sitting MLA from North Shillong. #MeghalayaElection2018 pic.twitter.com/S7LZdRg6Ji

— ANI (@ANI) February 27, 2018

I urge the people of Meghalaya and Nagaland to vote in large numbers in the Assembly Elections taking place today.

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) February 27, 2018

On February 25, the SAD-BJP demanded re-polling in all 95 wards of Ludhiana Municipal corporation, alleging misuse of government machinery and muscle power by the ruling Congress.

"Local body polls are a farce. State Election Commission is a mute spectator," said a the Opposition. 

In Nagaland, BJP's hope hinges on its alliance partner NDPP (the Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party) of Neiphiu Rio, which is contesting from 40 seats. The saffron party has fielded candidates from the remaining 20 seats.

The Congress, which has given three chief ministers to Nagaland since the state's inception in 1963, is contesting from only 18 seats, two less than the BJP, an emerging entity in the Northeast.
 

A total of 494 candidates are in the fray. Of the 95 wards, 56 are reserved, 39 general categories, 40 are reserved for women, seven for SCs, another seven for SC women and two for Other Backward Class (OBC).

As many as 281 companies of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF), beside the state police force, are deployed throughout Nagaland to ensure a peaceful election.

Nagaland's CEO Abhijit Sinha had said earlier that all the polling stations would be manned by the CAPF personnel, while the state police would also be assisting them.

Of the 2,156 polling stations in Nagaland, 1,100 were declared critical, 530 vulnerable and 526 normal, he had added.

The election process in Nagaland had started on a difficult note.

Following a no-election diktat from the Core Committee of Nagaland Tribal Hohos and Civil Organisations (CCNTHCO), advocating "solution (to the Naga political issue) before election", the political parties had initially kept away from the poll process.

Though the process of nomination-filing had started on January 31, 2018, the first batch of 22 contestants filed their candidature only on the penultimate day on February 5. There was a heavy rush of nominees filing their papers on the last day.

After the scrutiny and withdrawal, a total of 227 nominees are left in the field in Nagaland.

In Nagaland, a total of 11,91,513 voters - 6,01,707 (50.50 per cent) men and 5,89,806 (49.50 per cent) women - will exercise their franchise. There are also 5,925 service voters.