Read: Latest assembly election result updates on Tripura | Meghalaya
Kohima: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) - Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) alliance and the Naga People's Front (NPF) are slugging it out to see who will emerge more dominant in Nagaland.
The counting of votes for 59 assembly seats began at 8 a.m. on Saturday. The NDPP Chief and former chief minister Neiphiu Rio has already been declared elected unopposed.
He was declared a winner from the Northern Angami-II assembly seat in Kohima district after his rival withdrew his nomination.
The NDPP contested on 40 seats and the BJP on 20 seats.
While Nagaland Chief Minister and NPF leader TR Zeliang has expressed confidence of returning to power, the exit polls have presented a different picture altogether.
The JanKiBaat-NewsX exit poll predicts that the BJP-NDPP will win 27-32 seats. It says that the NPF will win 20-25 seats and the Congress may hardly manage to win 0-2 seats.
The CVoter exit polls claimed a victory for the NDPP-BJP combine in Nagaland, which is likely to get 25-31 and the NPF likely to bag 19-25 seats.
Voting for the Nagaland Assembly was conducted on February 27. The turnout was recorded to be 75 percent.
Catch live updates:
10.00 am - A total of 31 seats needed to form a government. NPF leading in 6 seats, BJP-NDPP in 7, Congress in 1 and Others in 3
9.45 am - ECI trends show NPF leading in 4 seats and BJP-NDPP in 3
9.30 am - In the latest update, BJP leads in 11 seats, NPF - 8 seats and Congress 1
9:00 am - Early trends show NDPP-BJP has 1 in Nagaland
8:00 am - Counting of votes begins for Tripura, Meghalaya and Nagaland assembly elections
