Polling began for the lone parliamentary seat in Nagaland in the second phase of Lok Sabha elections today. The poll will decide the fate of Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio, who is the candidate from his Naga Peoples Front party.  He is pitted against Congress' KV Pusa and Akheu Achumi of Socialist Party (India).

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This will be the first time that Nagaland would webcast poll proceedings of 84 stations out of the total 2,059 stations to maintain transparency. Those polling stations can be viewed live through the CEO Nagaland website. 

An electorate of 11,82,948, including 5,82,458 women will cast their votes during the day. The state has 12 polling stations where vehicular access does not exist. Eleven are located in Tuensang district and one is in Mon district. 

A total 1,475 polling stations have been declared as normal, 407 as vulnerable and 177 as critical. A total of 33 companies of central armed police force have been deployed for peaceful conduct of the elections. They comprise seven companies of Mizoram Armed Police, 10 companies of Tripura State Rifles, eight companies of CRPF and eight companies of BSF.

Nagaland Armed Police, IR Battalion and around 2,200 village guards, besides five companies of central armed police force have also been deployed to ensure free and fair polls and maintain general law and order.