E-Paper
Assembly by poll: Voting begins for 9 constituencies in northeast
Five seats in Assam, three in Meghalaya and one in Mizoram are going to polls; bye-election to one seat in Nagaland was won uncontested by the ruling NDPP
Voting for bye-elections on nine assembly seats in three states of northeast including five in Assam, three in Meghalaya and one in Mizoram has begun on Saturday morning. The Bye-election to one seat in Nagaland was won uncontested earlier this month by the ruling Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) candidate. .
A total of 796,456 voters (403,374 males, 393,078 females) are eligible to vote for Assam’s five assembly seats, apart from 3,165 service voters, to elect their representative from among the 31 candidates in the fray.
In order to ensure free and fair voting, webcasting will be done from all 1176 polling stations in the five constituencies, where adequate security arrangements have been made along with implementation of Covid-19 containment protocols at all polling stations.
Tamulpur and Gossaigaon assembly seats had fallen vacant due to deaths of opposition MLA from the Bodoland Peoples’ Front (BPF) and ruling party MLA from the United Peoples Party Liberal (UPPL) due to Covid-19 related complications.
The other three seats are going to polls since two Congress MLAs, from Mariani and Thawra, and one All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) MLA from Bhabanipur, joined the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
At present, the BJP has 59 MLAs, UPPL 5 and Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) 9, while opposition Congress has 27, AIUDF 15, BPF-3, CPM 1 and newly floated Raijor Das has 1 seat in the 126-member house.
Bye-election to the Majuli seat, which fell vacant after union minister Sarbananda Sonowal resigned last month, will take place later.
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In Meghalaya, voting is taking place at Mawryngkneng, Rajabala and Mawphlang seats. The seats had fallen vacant due to deaths of sitting MLAs. Around 100,000 voters are eligible to vote in the by polls for the three seats.
In Mizoram, ruling Mizo National Front (MNF) is taking on Congress, Zoram Peoples Movement (ZPM) and Bharatiya Janata Party in the bye-election for the Tuirial assembly seat.
The bye-election was necessitated due to death of sitting ZPM MLA Andrew H Thangliana in August this year. In 2018, Thangliana had defeated MNF’s Sailothanga Sailo by a margin of just 204 votes.
A total of 17,911 voters will decide the fates of the four prominent candidates including K Laldawngliana (MNF), Laltlanmawia (ZPM), Chalrosanga Ralte (Congress) and K Laldinthara (BJP).
In Nagaland, the ruling Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) was declared winner on the Shamator-Chessore assembly seat where by polls were scheduled today as its candidate S Keoshu Yimchunger faced no challenge.
Yimchunger, a newcomer in the state electoral politics, was the consensus candidate of the newly formed opposition-less United Democratic Alliance (UDA) in Nagaland where the NDPP, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Naga People’s Front (NPF) and two independent MLAs are partners.
The by-poll to Shamatore-Chessore seat in the Nagaland Legislative Assembly was necessitated by the demise of the then sitting NDPP MLA Toshi Wungtung in July this year.
Yimchunger was the sole candidate to file nomination papers for the by-poll and was declared winner after the last hour for withdrawal of candidature on October 13. The NDPP’s total strength in the house of 60 now stands at 21, while NPF has 25 MLAs and BJP has 12. There are two independent legislators in the house.
(With inputs from Alice Yhoshu in Kohima and David Laitphlang in Shillong)
