Kohima, Apr 19 (IANS): Voting for the Nagaland Lok Sabha seat began on Friday morning amidst heavy security measures, election officials said.

Voters, comprising men, women and first-time electorates, queued up in front of most polling stations before the voting started across the state at 7 a.m.

The voting in 2,342 polling stations, manned by over 11,000 polling staff, would continue till 4 p.m. without any interruption.

Election officials said that over 13.25 lakh voters, including 6.64 lakh women, would decide the electoral fate of three candidates – opposition Congress nominee S Supongmeren Jamir, ruling Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) candidate Chumben Murry and Independent Hayithung Tungoe Lotha.

Eastern Nagaland Peoples’ Organisation (ENPO) in support of their separate state demand has urged the people to abstain from voting in the six Eastern Nagaland districts – Mon, Tuensang, Longleng, Kiphire, Shamator and Noklak. However, the Election Commission on Thursday sent polling parties for the 738 polling stations in the six districts.