Voting begins in Meghalaya & Nagaland

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, Feb 23: Voting for the 60-member

assembly elections began Saturday amidst tight security, an official said.

Men and women in large numbers queued up in front of polling stations well before voting opened at 7 am in the entire state. Polling ends at 4 pm, said chief electoral officer Prashant Naik.

The outlawed Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council has called for a 36-hour shutdown from 6 pm Friday to 6 am Sunday as part of the outfit's boycott the assembly polls.

Over 15 lakh electorate are eligible to exercise their franchise to decide the fate of 345 candidates, including 24 women and 122 independents.

Meanwhile in Nagaland also, polling for the 60-member Nagaland assembly began on a peaceful note on Saturday, an official said.

Around 1.1 million electorate will exercise their franchise.

There 188 candidates in the electoral fray this time including two women candidates.

Polling started at 7 am in most of the polling stations in the state, said chief electoral officer J Alam.

IANS