GUWAHATI: Barring some sporadic incidents of clashes, voting in 14 of Northeast’s 25 seats which went to first phase Parliamentary elections on Thursday passed off peacefully.
At least three people were seriously injured in a clash between the supporters of two rival political parties outside a polling booth in Kurung Kumey district of Arunachal Pradesh where Assembly elections were held simultaneously. The injured were evacuated to Itanagar by a chopper, the police said.
A similar clash was reported from Tripura’s Sepahijala district.
In Assam’s Tinsukia district, the police recovered an improvised explosive device (IED) from a tea estate. It was planted on an oil pipeline by suspected militants.
There were reports of malfunctioning of electronic voting machines at many places. However, that could not disturb voting as the machines were promptly replaced.
Till 5 pm, Assam recorded a voters’ turnout of 68 per cent, Arunachal 59 per cent, Meghalaya 68 per cent, Manipur 78.2 per cent, Mizoram 73 per cent, Nagaland 74 per cent and Tripura 78 per cent. The figures are likely to go up as reports from far-flung areas across the region were awaited.
In Mizoram’s Kahnmun, special arrangements were made for displaced Bru (Reang) voters who came from relief camps in neighbouring Tripura to exercise franchise. Earlier, some Mizo organisations had threatened to boycott the polls. They had insisted the displaced Brus cast their votes at those polling stations where their names are enrolled. The Election Commission resolved the issue by promising that the displaced Brus would be denied voting right if they do not return to Mizoram.
Over 32,000 Brus are lodged in the relief camps of Tripura after they had fled Mizoram in late 1990s following ethnic riots between the Brus and the Mizos.
Sanbor Shullai, BJP candidate for Shillong seat in Meghalaya, had allegedly picked up a quarrel with the presiding officer outside a polling booth after the politician was asked to leave the place. Shullai was trying to reach out to voters by telling them aloud that he would commit suicide in front of Prime Minister Narendra Modi if the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 is passed.
There was a lot of enthusiasm among voters who had lined up early in the morning to cast votes. In Nagaland, a centenarian, who had fought World War-II, came out to cast his vote wearing Army medals that he was decorated with.
Perched at 13,583 feet, Luguthang polling station in West Arunachal seat is the Northeast’s highest. The state also has a single voter polling station at Malogam which falls under East Arunachal seat.