Voting begins for Mizoram Assembly polls

Aizawl, Nov 7 (IANS) The voting for the Mizoram Assembly elections began on Tuesday morning amid tight security measures, election officials said.

Men and women in large numbers queued up in front of polling stations before the voting at 40 Assembly seats started at 7 a.m.

The polling would continue in 1,276 polling stations across the mountainous state till 4 p.m. without any break.

In all 8,57,063 voters, including 4,39,026 female voters, would decide the electoral fate of 174 candidates, including 16 women.

The ruling Mizo National Front (MNF), the main opposition Zoram People's Movement (ZPM) and the Congress have fielded candidates in 40 seats each while the Aam Aadmi Party is contesting four seats and 27 independent candidates are also in the fray.

The BJP has fielded candidates in 23 seats with a special focus on linguistic minority inhabited areas, especially where the Reang and Chakma tribal community are in reasonable numbers in the voters' list.

Additional Chief Electoral Officer, H. Lianzela, told IANS that 4,832 polling personnel have been engaged to conduct the balloting in 1,276 polling stations across 11 districts.

A senior police officer said that security has been tightened across the state, specially along international borders with Bangladesh and Myanmar.

Mizoram shares a 510-km porous border with Myanmar and a 318-km border with Bangladesh.

At least 3,000 policemen and 5,400 personnel of the Central Armed Police Forces have been deployed for the polls, the official said.

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