LS polls 2nd phase voting: Very high in Manipur, moderate in Arunachal

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New Delhi, April 9, 2014(IBN Live): At least 55 per cent votes cast their votes on Wednesday for the two Lok Sabha seats and 49 out of the 60 Assembly seats in Arunachal Pradesh, where the simultaneous polling was held peacefully.

The vote percentage from interior districts are yet to be received. In Manipur, about 80 per cent of the electorate on Wednesday voted in the elections to the Outer Manipur Lok Sabha seat.

The Northeastern states of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Meghalaya and Manipur began voting in the second phase on April 9. Two Lok Sabha seats in Meghalaya, the only Lok Sabha seat in Nagaland, one of the two Lok Sabha seats in Manipur and both the Lok Sabha seats in Arunachal Pradesh are electing their Members of Parliament.

Arunachal Pradesh also voted for the state Assembly. It has a 60-member Assembly and the ruling Congress dissolved the Assembly to club it with the Lok Sabha elections. Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Nabam Tuki is contesting from Sagalee Assembly seat. Interestingly, 11 Congress candidates including the Nabam Tuki are set to be elected unopposed to the party-ruled Arunachal Pradesh Assembly after the withdrawal of nominations by the opposition BJP. Nabam Tuki was left without a rival in the Sagalee seat after his lone BJP rival Nabam Tade withdrew his nominations.

Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio is contesting in the Lok Sabha polls on his Naga People Front (NPF) ticket. Besides Gujarat Chief Minister and BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, Neiphiu Rio is the only serving chief minister who is trying his luck in the Lok Sabha elections.

Rio, who has been the chief minister of Nagaland since 2003, claims that his state wants a strong voice in Parliament and he is ready to sacrifice the post of chief minister for the post of an ordinary MP.

In Meghalaya with two Lok Sabha seats, former Lok Sabha Speaker and former chief minister PA Sangma is contesting from Tura instead of his daughter and former Union minister Agatha Sangma. Union minister Vincent Pala is contesting from Shillong Lok Sabha seat on the Congress ticket.

Union Minister of State for Minority Affairs Ninong Ering is contesting from Arunachal East Lok Sabha seat. Election to the lone Lok Sabha seat in Mizoram has been postponed to April 11 due to a state bandh against Bru (Reang) refugees.

The fate of Congress MP from Arunachal Takam Sanjoy, BJP leaders and former MPs Kiren Rijiju and Tapir Gao and Trinamool Congress candidate and former president of the North East Students’ Organisation, Gumjum Haider will also be decided in the polling.