Zee Media Bureau/Ritesh K Srivastava
7:00 pm: Nearly two-third voters cast ballots in Mizoram
Nearly two-thirds of the voters cast their ballots today for the lone Lok Sabha seat and in a by-poll for an assembly segment in mountainous Mizoram. The elections passed off peacefully, officials said.
Mizoram`s joint Chief Electoral Officer H Lalengmawia said that a 60 percent turnout has been recorded and the final figure will be known on Saturday.
In the last Lok Sabha elections in 2009, the voter turnout was around 51 percent in the state.
3:30 pm: 50% polling till 2 pm, says CEO
Despite a slow down in polling at midday due to the scorching heat, voter turnout was around 50% till 2 pm. State Chief Electoral Officer Ashwani Kumar said the turnout would be higher than 50.93 percent recorded in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls but it might not reach 83.41 percent as in the 2013 state Assembly polls.
3.00 pm: 45% turnout till 2 pm
About 45 percent of the electorate cast their vote for the lone Lok Sabha seat from Mizoram and an assembly by-poll in the first seven hours of polling here, election officials said.
Mizoram`s joint chief electoral officer H Lalengmawia said the polling was so far peaceful and no untoward incident was reported from anywhere in the state that borders Myanmar and Bangladesh besides Tripura and Assam.
"Around 45 percent polling was recorded till 2 pm," he said.
11.30 am: 20.4% voting till 10 am
An estimated 20.4 percent voters exercised their franchise till 10 am during election to the lone Mizoram Lok Sabha seat and by-poll to the Hrangturzo Assembly seat, election officials claimed.
10.05 am: One third of voters cast votes in first 3 hours
Nearly a third of the electorate cast their ballot in the first three hours in the lone Lok Sabha constituency and a by-poll for an assembly seat in Mizoram, an election official said.
7.00 am: Voting begins
Voting for the lone Lok Sabha constituency and an Assembly by-poll in Mizoram began on Friday morning amid unprecedented security.
The by-election is being held for the Hrangturzo Assembly constituency.
The Mizoram Lok Sabha seat is witnessing a three-cornered contest between the ruling Congress, Aam Aadmi Party and the United Democratic Front, which is an alliance of eight opposition parties.
Congress has fielded its sitting MP CL Ruala, while UDF has nominated Robert Romawia Royte. AAP has put up Michael Lalmanzuala as its candidate for the seat.
An electorate of 7,02,189, of whom 3,55,954 are women are eligible to cast votes in 1,126 polling stations.
In 385 polling stations, mainly in urban areas, the VVPAT system, under which a paper trail would show the voters their choice of candidates, has been installed.
Eight companies of central paramilitary forces apart from six state armed battalions as well as unarmed policemen are looking after the security.
International borders with Myanmar and Bangladesh and inter-state borders have been sealed, official sources said.
The election, earlier scheduled for April 9, was shifted to April 11 after a clutch of civil society bodies called a 72-hour bandh from April 7 to protest against the EC`s permission to Bru refugees, camped in Tripura, to vote in that state instead of Mizoram which the strikers had demanded.
With Agency inputs
