mizo voters
Source: Twitter

Voting is underway in Mizoram, and as per latest reports, polling is going on smoothly with 15 per cent polling recorded during the first two hours since voting began at 7 am in the morning on Wednesday.

Also read: Polling begins in eight districts across Mizoram; unprecedented security at place

Mizoram is the only state in the Northeast where the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has no presence and the saffron party is is aiming to wrest control from the Congress which has been ruling the state.

The State is seen by the BJP as the ‘final frontier’ in the north-eastern region as it is in power in all other states of the region – either by winning polls or forging alliance with regional parties.

Polling in the 40-member Legislative Assembly of the hill state will decide the fate of 209 candidates. The BJP – which has never won an Assembly election in Mizoram – is contesting in 39 seats.

Of the 209 candidates in the fray in Mizoram, only 15 are women. During the last Assembly elections in 2013, only six women had contested and none could win.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has appealed voters in Mizoram to turnout in large numbers.

Prime Minister Modi took to Twitter and tweeted on his official handle:

‘I request my sisters and brothers of Mizoram, particularly the dynamic youth of the state, to turnout in large numbers and vote.’

bru voters
Bru voters arriving to cast their votes. Source: Twitter

Meanwhile, the Bru refugees have started arriving at Kanhmun village in Mamit district of Mizoram, where 15 temporary polling stations have been set up to facilitate their right to exercise their franchise.

Notably, over 12,000 Bru refugees are living in six relief camps in Tripura.

In all 768,181 voters, including 393,685 women, are casting their vote in Mizoram.

The counting of votes for Mizoram will take place on December 11, along with Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Telangana, where Assembly elections are also being held.