A voter turnout of 75.49 per cent was recorded in Nagaland till 3 pm as the polling began amid tight security today, the Election Commission of India said on Monday.

The polls would seal the electoral fates of 183 candidates across parties. The highest voter turnout was recorded at 85.82 per cent on Mon.

The polling began in 59 Assembly constituencies at 7 am this morning amid tight security. The polling will continue till 4 pm.

The voter turnout till 1 pm was recorded at 60.51 per cent while over 38.68 per cent was recorded till 11 am.

According to ECI, 69.04 per cent of voter turnout was recorded in Chumoukedima, 67.64 per cent in Dimapur, 80.90 per cent in Kiphire while Kohima recorded 71.94 per cent and Longleng recorded 66.05 per cent of voter turnout till 3 pm.

The voting is underway in 59 out of 60 Assembly constituencies, as BJP candidate Kazheto Kinimi was declared winner uncontested from Zunheboto district’s Akuluto constituency after his opponent from the Congress, N Khekashe Sumi, pulled out of the race on the last day for withdrawal of nominations, which was February 10.

In Monday’s polls, the BJP is contesting in alliance with the Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP), its old alliance partner in the 2018 Assembly polls as well.

However, the BJP has the role of a junior partner, having agreed to a seat-sharing ratio of 20:40 in the state. The Congress and Naga People’s Front are contesting 23 and 22 seats respectively. The CPI is contesting on 1, NCP on 12, NPP 12, RPP 1, JD(U) 7, LJP (Ram Vilas) 15, RPI (Athawale) 9, RJD 3, and Independents 19 seats.

The party forged an alliance with the NDPP in 2018 and successfully formed an alliance government with the backing of Janata Dal (United) and an Independent. The BJP had won 12 seats, NDPP had registered a win on the 17 seats, and the JD(U) clinched 1 seat.

There are a total of 13,17,632 electorate in Nagaland, of which 6,61,489 are men and 6,56,143 are women.

A total of 2,351 polling stations have been set up in the state.

According to the Election Commission, 305 companies from various security forces have been deployed at the polling stations across the state to ensure a smooth and fair voting process.

The counting of votes will take place on March 2 along with Tripura and Meghalaya.