Nagaland: Counting of votes to be held on Mar 8

Kohima, Mar 7: Counting of votes for the 60-member Nagaland Assembly, for which elections were held on March 5 and re-polling in some constituencies today, will begin at 0800 hrs here tomorrow.

The fate of 218 candidates, including four women candidates, of ten political parties and Independents, which have been sealed after re-polling held at 47 polling stations across nine districts, will be decided when counting of votes begins tomorrow. Chief Electoral Officer(CEO) C J Ponraj informed that counting would be taken up simultaneously at 60 tables in 12 Electoral District headquarters. Dimapur district has five Constituencies, Peren two, Kohima seven, Pughoboto one, Phek five, Mokokchung ten, Zunheboto six, Wokha four, Mon nine, Longleng two, Tuensang six and Kiphire three.

The Congress has fielded 60 candidates for the polls, while Nagaland Peoples Front (NPF) fielded 56, followed by RJD 25, BJP 23, NCP eight, Janata Dal(S) four, Lok Janashakti Party three, Adarsh Political Party one and Independents 33.

Prominent among those who are contesting the elections include Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio from Northern Angami-II Constituency on NPF ticket, former Chief Minister K L Chishi on Congress ticket from Dimapur-I Constituency, Nagaland Assembly Speaker Kiyanilie peseyie on NPF ticket from Western Angami Constituency and Deputy Speaker E E Pangteang on NPF ticket from Moka A/C under Mon district.

The four women candidates include JD(U) candidate Zeneisele from Dimapur-I, Independent candidate Rosemary Jamir from Alongtaki Constituency under Mokokchung district, NCP candidate Rhakilla from Tuensang Sadar-II and BJP candidate Soly from Pungro-Kiphire Constituency under Kiphire district.

Altogether, 52 former ministers are contesting among the 218 contestants in this Assembly elections. There were direct contests between Congress and NPF in 17 Assembly Constituencies.

Thonoknyu has the maximum number of candidates with nine constestants, followed by Tyui and Bhandari Constituencies under Wokha district with eight each.

Meanwhile, the Election Secretariat had arranged for the results of the counting to be declared smoothly tomorrow, which can be accessed either through the Election Commission's website (eci.gov.in) or Nagaland Election Department"s website (ceonagaland.nic.in).

This was being done with a view to make the election results easily accessible by all interested parties. Trial runs by the districts have been made in collaboration with the NIC state unit.

UNI