Meghalaya, nagaland polls 2018 one dead in clashes

Meghalaya, Nagaland polls 2018: One dead in clashes; top 10 developments

Voting in the two crucial Assembly elections of Nagaland and Meghalaya is underway. While Nagaland witnessed 56 per cent voter turnout, Meghalaya saw 27.75 per cent voters coming out to exercise their right as of 1 pm on Tuesday. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress are slugging it out to see who will emerge as the more dominant party in the Northeast.

In Nagaland, one person was killed and two others injured after clashes erupted between groups of the Naga People's Front and Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party near a polling booth in Akuluto. According to news agencies, the polling process was not disturbed.

There reportedly were a "large number" of VVPAT (Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail) machines that malfunctioned in Meghalaya, according to officials.

Despite security being beefed up, one person was injured in a bomb blast at a polling station in Mon District's Tizit in Nagaland earlier on Tuesday morning.

Nagaland CM TR Zeliang has said that he will move towards a Naga political solution after the state polls are concluded.

The two states have a 60-member House each. However, voting will be held only for 59 constituencies in each. Voting for the 60-member Assemblies will commence from 7 am and conclude by 4 pm, except at some polling stations in Nagaland's interior districts where the process is scheduled to be completed at 3 pm.

The results of the polls in the two states, along with that of Tripura, will be declared on Saturday, March 3.In 2013, along with Mukul Sangma, his wife DD Shira and his brother Zenith Sangma won the election, bagging the Mahendraganj and Rangsakona seats. Both Shira and Zenith Sangma are seeking a re-election from their respective seats. Further, Zenith's wife, Sadhiarani M Sangma, is also making her electoral debut this year from the Gambegre seat.

As for Mukul's rivals, the NPP president Conrad K Sangma, his brother James and their sister Agatha K Sangma, a former Union minister in the UPA-II government, are also a force to reckon with. Conrad K Sangma, son of P A Sangma, had won the 2016 by-elections from the Tura parliamentary seat with a thumping majority after his father's demise. He is currently a sitting MP in Lok Sabha.

His sister is contesting from the South Tura constituency, while his brother is seeking re-election from the Dadenggre seat. Boston Marak, a cousin of Conrad K Sangma, is also contesting the election on a Garo National Council ticket from Salmanpara seat. Sanjay A Sangma, Conrad's brother-in-law, is taking on the Chief Minister's wife from Mahendraganj.

ARTICLE SOURCE – BUSINESS STANDARD.