Elections are being held in Nagaland and Meghalaya today for their respective assemblies.

Polling started at 7 in the morning and will go on till 4 in the evening except at the polling stations in some of the interior districts of Nagaland, where votes will be cast till 3 pm.

With polling about to end, Nagaland recorded 67 per cent voting while Meghalaya recorded 43 per cent.

Nagaland and Meghalaya have a 60-member House each but voting will be held for 59 constituencies in these states.

The votes will be counted and results declared on March 3 for both Meghalaya and Nagaland. The election results for Tripura will be announced the same day.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a tweet urged the people of the poll-bound states to turn up in large numbers and cast their votes.

I urge the people of Meghalaya and Nagaland to vote in large numbers in the Assembly Elections taking place today. Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) February 27, 2018

In Nagaland, BJP's ally Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) chief and former Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio was declared elected unopposed from the Northern Angami-II constituency.

#NagalandElection2018: Voting underway at a polling station in Peren district's Jalukie pic.twitter.com/1YzSVzdMJo ANI (@ANI) February 27, 2018

In Meghalaya, the election was countermanded in Williamnagar constituency after NCP candidate Jonathone N Sangma was killed in an IED blast in East Garo Hills district on February 18.

#MeghalayaElection2018: Voters queue up outside Chengkompara-25 polling station in Ampatigiri; CM Mukul Sangma is the sitting MLA from the constituency. pic.twitter.com/IldZeeGMX9 ANI (@ANI) February 27, 2018

In all the three states, the BJP emerged as the principal challenger to the ruling party/coalition during the election campaign. A high-decibel electioneering came to an end in Nagaland and Meghalaya on Sunday evening.

Buoyed by the formation of governments in Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh, the BJP is making a determined bid to expand its footprint in the north-east.

On the other hand, the Congress' hope hinges on its performance in Meghalaya only where it has been ruling for past 10 years.

In Meghalaya, the Congress and the BJP are pitted against each other. While the former has fielded 59 candidates, the latter has put up nominees in 47 constituencies.

The BJP was in power in Nagaland in alliance with the ruling NPF till it snapped ties to form a coalition with Rio's party on the eve of the Assembly election.

However, the BJP ministers continued to hold office in the TR Zeliang government.

In Nagaland, BJP's hope hinges on its alliance partner NDPP of Neiphiu Rio, which is contesting from 40 seats. The saffron party has fielded candidates from the remaining 20 seats.

The Congress, which has given three chief ministers to Nagaland since the state's inception in 1963, is contesting from only 18 seats, two less than the BJP, an emerging entity in the north-east.

Nagaland is going to polls for the first time since the framework agreement between the Centre and the NSCN (IM) was signed in 2015.

WATCH | Narendra Modi addresses party workers at new BJP headquarters