Multi-cornered contest in 15 NE seats in 1st phase

Agartala, Apr 18:  A multi-cornered contest will be witnessed in 15 Lok Sabha seats in the eight northeastern states as the first phase of the 7-phase parliamentary elections is held on Friday.

The Election Commission has made elaborate arrangements and deployed a large number of Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) personnel along with thousands of state forces for the first phase of the polls in 15 out of the total 25 parliamentary constituencies in the eight northeastern states.

Coping with natural challenges, election and security officials moved to their polling stations in remote areas through different modes including on foot in Mizoram, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya,and Nagaland two to three days ago. A majority of the polling officials accompanied by security personnel left for their stipulated polling stations on Thursday.

In Friday’s elections, the electoral fate of two Union ministers, two state Congress chiefs, three Rajya Sabha members and prominent leaders would be decided.

They include Union Ministers Kiren Rijiju (Arunachal West) and Sarbananda Sonowal (Dibrugarh), Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi (Jorhat), BJP Rajya Sabha members Biplab Kumar Deb (Tripura West), Kamakhya Prasad Tasa (Kaziranga), Mizo National Front Rajya Sabha member K. Vanlalvena (Mizoram), Arunachal Pradesh Congress president Nabam Tuki (Arunachal West) and his Tripura counterpart Asish Kumar Saha (Tripura West).