Nagaland Assembly elections: One injured in bomb blast at polling station in Tizit

Mon: One person was injured in a bomb blast in Nagaland`s Mon district on Tuesday at a polling station in Tizit.

According to reports, the bomb was handmade and was hurled at the polling station, in the wee hours of Tuesday morning.

Meanwhile, Nagaland Chief Minister TR Zeliang spoke to ANI and said, "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".

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

With Nationalist Democratic People's Party (NDPP) chief Neiphiu Rio winning the Northern Angami-II seat unopposed, polling is being held in 59 seats.

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.

The election process in Nagaland had started on a difficult note with the Core Committee of Nagaland Tribal Hohos and Civil Organisations (CCNTHCO) advocating a "solution (to the Naga political issue) before the election".

Following this no-election diktat, the political parties had initially kept away from the poll process and the first batch of 22 contestants filed their candidature only on the penultimate day on February 5, though the filing of nominations had begun on January 31.

There was a heavy rush of nominees filing their papers on the last day.

The BJP's hope hinges on its alliance partner NDPP, which is contesting from 40 seats. The BJP 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.

The results of the polls, along with those of Tripura and Meghalaya, will be declared on March 3, 2018.

(With PTI inputs)