Election to the 60-member Nagaland Assembly began at 7 am today amid a tight security as more than half of the 2,156 polling stations in the north-eastern state have been declared critical.


With Nationalist Democratic People's Party chief Neiphiu Rio winning the Northern Angami-II seat unopposed, polling is being held in 59 seats. Voting will continue till 4 pm, except in some polling stations of the interior districts where it will end at 3 pm, election office sources said.


Officials said as many as 281 companies of the Central Armed Police Forces, besides the state police force, have been deployed throughout Nagaland to ensure peaceful polling.


Nagaland's Chief Electoral Officer Abhijit Sinha said of the 2,156 polling stations in the state, 1,100 were declared as "critical", 530 "vulnerable" and 526 "normal".


All the polling stations would be manned by the CAPF personnel and the state police would also be assisting them, he added. A total of 11,76,432 voters -- 5,97,281 men, 5,79,151 women and 5,884 service voters -- are eligible to exercise their franchise to decide the fate of 195 candidates.
-- PTI