Nagaland election result 2018: Bracing for neck and neck fight
Voters wait in a long queue to cast their votes for Assembly elections, at a polling station in Dimapur, Nagaland on Tuesday.
A neck and neck fight is on in Nagaland, where the ruling Naga People's Front (NPF) has bagged 21 seats and the NDPP-BJP alliance 19 seats at the time of going to press.
Results of 42 seats of the 60-member House had been declared.
The NFP, which has been in power in the state since 2003 except for a three-month-long break during the President's Rule in 2008, is ahead in four seats.
Chief Minister and NPF leader T R Zeliang won from Peren constituency by a margin of 5,432 votes.
The BJP won nine seats and was leading in two, whereas its alliance partner, the Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) had got 10 seats so far and was ahead in six constituencies.
The saffron party and the NDPP had contested in 20 and 40 seats respectively.
NDPP chief Neiphiu Rio, a three time chief minister, was elected uncontested from the Northern Angami II seat.
The National People's Party (NPP) has won a seat and is leading in two. The party is an ally of the BJP at the Centre and in Manipur.
The Janata Dal (United), which shares power with the BJP in Bihar, is ahead in one seat.
An Independent candidate has also registered victory in the widely-contested state poll.
To form a government in Nagaland with a 60-member House, a party or coalition requires a minimum of 31 seats.
The Congress, which has given three chief ministers to Nagaland since the state's inception in 1963, is contesting only in 18 seats, two less than the BJP.
The election process in the North-eastern state had started on a difficult note.
Following a no-poll diktat from the Core Committee of Nagaland Tribal Hohos and Civil Organisations advocating "solution (to the Naga political issue) before election", political parties had initially kept away from the poll process.
Though filing of nominations started on January 31, the first batch of 22 contestants filed their papers only on February 5, the penultimate day for filing of nominations.
There was a heavy rush of nominees to file the nomination papers on the last day, February 7, and finally after scrutiny and withdrawal, 227 candidates were in the fray for the state polls.
