DIMAPUR, May 27 - Nagaland Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Abhijit Sinha on Sunday appealed to the voters of the State to cast their votes ethically and responsibly in the bypoll to Nagaland Parliamentary constituency. The polling will be held from 7 am to 4 pm on Monday.
A total of 11,97,436 electorate are eligible to exercise their franchise in the byelection in 2,196 polling stations in the State.
The lone Lok Sabha seat in the State fell vacant after Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio resigned from the seat to contest the Assembly election in February.
The bypoll will witness a straight contest between ruling People�s Democratic Alliance (PDA) and Opposition Naga People�s Front (NPF) candidates. The PDA has fielded its major partner Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party member Tokheho Yepthomi against NPF candidate C Apok Jamir. Both Tokheho and Apok contested the last Assembly election unsuccessfully.
Meanwhile, the CEO has defended the action of Kohima deputy commissioner and district electoral officer Rajesh Soundararajan in serving show-cause notices to Nagaland University teachers with regard to their absence in the training for election duty.
Addressing a press conference in Kohima on Saturday, the CEO said the teachers from Nagaland University had been on election duties in the past and that their deployment was nothing illegal as per the People�s Representation Act 1951.
The DC issued show-cause notices to 13 university teachers on May 24 seeking their responses on the matter within a day.
said the law and order situation in the state was conducive to conduct of election. He said those engaged for polling duty will be issued �Election Duty Certificate� to exercise their franchise from any of the voting centres.
On the complaint made by NDPP and BJP against NPF president Dr Sh�rhozelie Liezietsu for making alleged �inflammatory statement�, Nagaland commissioner and returning officer M Patton said police have registered a case and investigation was in progress.