Aizawl: The turnout in the election to the village councils in the six districts of Mizoram and local councils within the Aizawl Municipal Council (AMC) held on Thursday was expected to be over 70 percent, State Election Commission Secretary H Darzika said.
Darzika told a news agency that the final figure on the poll turnout would be available late tonight due to communication problems, specially in the remote villages and also due to the fact that polling continued in many places even after 5 pm, the time for conclusion of the polling.
Deputy Inspector General of Police (Range) LT Hrangchal said the polling was completely peaceful without any untoward incidents.
Elections were held to 498 out of 536 village councils and 82 out of 83 local councils in Aizawl city, Darzika said.
Village council polls could not be held in 31 villages in the north eastern part of the state due to intimidation from the Manipur-based Hmar People's Convention (Democrats), while there was no need for polling in seven villages as the candidates were already elected unopposed.
The independent candidates in Mission Veng locality in Aizawl were also declared as elected unopposed in the election to the local council.
Of the 2,817 seats in the elections to the village councils and local councils, 743 seats were reserved for women, Darzika said adding there were 7,129 candidates, of which 1,783 candidates were women.
The ruling Congress has the largest number of candidates at 2,625, followed by the opposition Mizo National Front (MNF) at 2,151, while the Zoram Nationalist Party (ZNP) fielded 753 candidates.
The Mizoram People's Conference (MPC) put up 154 candidates and the state BJP unit fielded 215. The NCP had one candidate, while there were 1,230 independent candidates.
