Mizoram registers 60 per cent turnout in Lok Sabha polls

Aizawl, Mizoram: Mizoram recorded a peaceful turnout of 60 per cent in the elections to the lone Lok Sabha seat in the state.

The polling percentage was likely to go up as the final reports from some inaccessible polling stations were awaited as also arrival of the postal ballots including 11,000 Bru votes in the Tripura relief camps, state chief electoral officer Ashwani Kumar told PTI in Aizawl.

He described the turnout as good compared to the 50.93 per cent in the last parliamentary polls held in 2009 but lower than the 83.41 per cent in the last Assembly elections on November 25 last year.

Except for minor technical snags, polling was smooth and peaceful in 2,126 polling stations across the state, the CEO said.

Around ten Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines had to be replaced as also three EVMs, two in Aizawl district and one in Serchhip district due to technical problems.

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There were complaints of polling officials conducting the polls without deleting votes polled during the mock polls in three polling stations, he said.

The candidates for the lone Lok Sabha seat were sitting MP and ruling Congress nominee CL Ruala, Aam Aadmi Party candidate Michael Lalmanzuala and an independent candidate Robert Romawia Royte of the United Democratic Alliance, a platform of eight opposition parties including the main opposition Mizo National Front and the BJP.

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In the by-poll to the Hrangturzo assembly seat held simultaneously, around 75 per cent votes were polled.

The by-poll was necessitated as Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla who had won from two constituencies in 2013 Assembly polls vacated the seat.

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