The second phase of the nine-phased elections for six Lok Sabha constituencies in four north eastern states began amid tight security on Wednesday.
Four of these seats, two each, are in Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya, and one each are in Manipur and Nagaland. Voting for the lone Lok Sabha constituency in Mizoram, which was also scheduled for Wednesday, has been postponed to Friday.
Polling will also be held for 49 assembly seats of Arunachal Pradesh on Wednesday.
Polling commenced at 7 a.m. this morning and will continue till 4 p.m.
In all, nine lakh and 11 thousand voters, including four lakh and 63 thousand female voters will exercise their franchise at 1,403 polling stations in the Outer Manipur parliamentary constituency.
Altogether, ten candidates, including sitting MP Thangso Baite of Congress, Prof. Gangmumei Kamei of BJP, Soso Lorho of Naga Peaople's Front and former MP Kim Gangte of All India Trinamool Congress are in the electoral fray for the Lok Sabha seat.
In Arunachal Pradesh, polling started will be held in two Lok Sabha (Arunachal East and Arunachal West) seats and 49 assembly seats.
Simultaneous voting will be held from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. one hour more than the earlier elections.
In Meghalaya, voting began at 7 a.m. and will continue till 5 p.m. There are ten candidates in the frey for the two parliamentary seats - Shillong and Tura. Shillong seat faces a multi-cornered contest of eight candidates. Tura seat witnesses a straight contest between Former Lok Sabha Speaker, Purno A. Sangma of National People's Party and Daryl William Chandra Momin of Congress.
Contestants for the Shillong seat are sitting MP, Vincent Pala of the Congress, Paul Lyngdoh of United Democratic Party , Richard Shabong of Communist Party of India, Shibun Lyngdoh, BJP, A. Kharshiing of Aam Admi Party and three Independents - P.B.M. Basaiawmoit, Denis Siangshai and Ivoryna Shylla, woman candidate.
Elections in Nagaland is a three cornered contest for one Lok Sabha seat. The political fortunes of Chief Minister Niephiu Rio of the Naga People's Front, Former minister and NPCC president, K.V. Pusa of the Indian National Congress, and Akhie Achumi of the Socialist party (India) will be decided on Wednesday.
