Aizawl:
Voting for the lone Lok Sabha constituency and an Assembly by-poll in Mizoram began today, for which additional eight companies of central para-military forces have been deployed.
The by-poll is being held to the Hrangturzo Assembly constituency.
The Mizoram Lok Sabha seat is witnessing a three-cornered contest between the ruling Congress, Aam Aadmi Party and the United Democratic Front which is an alliance of eight opposition parties. (Full coverage: Elections)
An electorate of 7,02,189, of whom 3,55,954 are women are eligible to cast votes in 1,126 polling stations.
In 385 polling stations, mainly in urban areas, the VVPAT system, under which a paper trail would show the voters their choice of candidates, has been installed. (Elections Candidates | Schedule)
Eight companies of central paramilitary forces apart from six state armed battalions as well as unarmed policemen are looking after the security. International borders with Myanmar and Bangladesh and inter-state borders have been sealed, official sources said.
The election, scheduled for April 9, was shifted to April 11 after a clutch of civil society bodies called a 72-hour bandh from April 7 to protest against the EC's permission to Bru refugees, camped in Tripura, to vote in that state instead of Mizoram which the strikers had demanded.