Guwahati: Over 1.6 crore voters of seven northeastern states are expected to cast their votes in the first phase of Lok Sabha polls on Friday that is being held simultaneously with the assembly elections in
Arunachal Pradesh and one assembly bypoll in Tripura.
A few thousand voters in
Manipur, who have been displaced by conflict, are expected to cast their votes from relief camps even as “a poll boycott call” is casting a shadow over the upcoming election in the eastern part of Nagaland where the Eastern Nagaland People’s Organization has urged voters in six districts to refrain from voting as a form of protest against the government’s failure to grant them a separate territory.
The organization has declared a “total shutdown” in the six districts starting Thursday 6 pm.
Polling officials are crossing mountains to reach out to every single voter. From high-altitude polling stations to those in remote locations close to the LAC and border with Myanmar, they have trekked for hours to reach their destinations.
A polling station in Arunachal Pradesh’s Malogam village, close to the LAC in Hayuliang assembly constituency, has just one voter and a team of polling officials has walked nearly 40 km through treacherous terrain to set up the polling booth for the village’s lone voter Sokela Tayang, a 44-year-old woman.
Another polling station of the state, No. 18-Luguthang under Mukto (ST) assembly constituency, is the highest polling station located at an altitude of about 13,383 ft.
Apart from the logistic challenges, several of these constituencies have been declared as disturbed areas under the AFSPA and poses high security threat from Indian militant groups operating from across the border with Myanmar.
The seven states have a total of 24 seats in the Lok Sabha. Manipur’s Outer Manipur Lok Sabha constituency will vote in two phases — 15 assembly segments with Inner Manipur on Friday and rest 13 segments on April 26 along with six other constituencies in Assam and Tripura. Assam will also see polling in the third phase on May 7 in four constituencies.
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