Several BJP bigwigs are scheduled to reach Nagaland ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections in the northeastern state on February 27.
Nagaland will poll for 60 Assembly seats in a single phase on February 27 and the counting of votes will take place on March 2.
Going all out to ensure victory in the poll-bound state, the BJP will deploy its top guns — Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and the party’s national president JP Nadda — for campaigning, party sources said.
The party heavyweights will address campaign events in favour of the ruling BJP-NDPP (Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party) in the state.
On February 24, PM Modi will conduct a mega rally in Nagaland’s Dimapur where he will be joined by Chief Minister and NDPP president Neiphiu Rio.
Amit Shah will also campaign in the Northeast state over two days, on February 20 and 21.The Union Home Minister will hold a roadshow with Nagaland CM in Dimapur on Monday and address a rally in Mokukchung Town on day two of his visit.
Assam Chief Minister and North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) convenor, Himanta Biswa Sarma, will also be visiting the poll-bound state on Saturday. He will hold three rallies in Bhandari, Alongtaki, and Pughoboto region in support of the BJP-NDPP candidates.
The Assam CM will also attend the election campaigns of PM Modi and Amit Shah. However, JP Nadda’s campaign schedule in the poll-bound state is still being firmed up.
The BJP and NDPP had resolved to continue with their alliance in the upcoming state polls. As part of the seat sharing agreement reached between the allies, the BJP will contest from 20 Assembly segmnents in the Northeast state while the NDPP, the bigger alliance partner, will contest the remaining 40 seats.
One candidate from CPI, 23 from the Congress, 12 from the NCP, 12 from the NPP, 22 from NPF, 1 from RPP, 7 from JD(U), 15 from LJP (Ram Vilas), 9 from RPI (Athawale) and 19 Independents are also in the fray in the 60 seats.
The number of registered voters in the state stands at 13,17,632, of which 6,61,489 are men and 6,56,143 are women.
There are a total of 2,351 polling stations, with Merapani polling station No. 71 in the Bhandari Assembly constituency having the lowest number of voters at 37, and Usutomi polling station No. 12 in the Atoizu constituency home to the highest number of voters at 1,348.
The Mokokchung Town Assembly constituency has the lowest number of electors at 8,302 while the Ghaspani-I constituency has the highest at 74,395.