KOHIMA, May 5 – Barring stray incidents of proxy voting, minor scuffles among supporters of political parties and damage to electronic voting machines, the election to the lone Lok Sabha seat in Nagaland remained by and large peaceful today, officials said, reports PTI.

The state’s Chief Electoral Officer, Lalthara, and Returning Officer, T N Mannen, in a joint briefing told newsmen that the exercise remained by and large peaceful with Mokokchung and Longleng districts recording over 90 per cent turnout.

In one polling station in Tuensang district, miscreants snatched away the EVM while...

BILASIPARA, May 5 – The Minister of Forests, Assam, Pradyut Bordoloi has declared the Hakama Beel near here in the district of Dhubri as a bird sanctuary and community conserved reserve. Sri Bordoloi, who visited the beel on the occasion of celebration of ‘Gachh Bihu’ Asom, and Hakama Beel Bird Sanctuary Demand Committee on May 2 praised the two NGOs for rendering conservation services towards the beel to which every winter several thousands of migratory birds like pelicans, sarali hanh and other birds come and make the beel their temporary abode.

The NGOs had to take the initiative for...

Agartala, May 5: On the eve of the surrender by NLFT rebels, the state police and the militants are allegedly working together to include a number of former militants, who had surrendered earlier and had received rehabilitation benefits. Official sources said leading commander Kamini Debbarma, a former Kokborok (tribal language) teacher by profession, had first laid down arms along with Tripura National Volunteers (TNV) militants in September 1988 and got back his job and other rehabilitation benefits.

Commander Dhanu Koloi, a former pump-operator in the public health engineering department...

ITANAGAR, May 5 – An estimated 50 per cent voters exercised their franchise in two Lok Sabha constituencies in Arunachal Pradesh today despite the ongoing 48-hour statewide bandh called by the All Arunachal Pradesh Students’ Union to enforce poll boycott to protest the inclusion of names of 1497 refugees in the state electoral roll.

Though there was no major incident, repolling has been ordered at a polling station near Palin in Kurung Kumey district and another at Chayang Tajo in East Kameng district. According to election office sources, bandh supporters damaged an electronic voting...

Kohima, May 5: At the end, it wasn’t interference by rebels but proxy voting which marred polling for the lone Lok Sabha seat in Nagaland today. The voting percentage is estimated to be around 87. Repoll will be held, probably on May 7, in one polling station in Tuensang district where more votes were cast than the actual number of voters. The polling station has 597 voters on its list but 602 votes were polled, returning officer T.N. Mannen said.

Young proxy voters had a field day, casting votes at random and removing the ink mark on their fingers with Velocity, a solution used by...