Aizawl, Apr 8 (IANS): To encourage first time voters, the Mizoram Election Department will organise a selfie contest on Thursday, the day of polling for the lone Lok Sabha seat in the state, an official said here on Monday.

"The Mizoram Election Department has announced a selfie contest for young and first-time voters on April 11. Eligible young voters would have to post selfies showing their finger marked with the indelible ink or of their voters' identity card on Instagram with the hashtag #MizoramVotes, or send it to the election office's WhatsApp number," the official told the media.

He said that the best three selfies would be awarded Rs 7,000, Rs 5,000, and Rs 3,000 along with a certificate.

Of the total 7,84,405 electorate, Mizoram has 52,556 first time voters.

Women again outnumbered men in Mizoram. Of the total, 4,02,408 are women and 3,81,991 men. There are six third gender voters.

Of the 1,175 polling stations in Mizoram, 117 will be for only women which will be manned by female security personnel and officials.

Besides the election to the lone Lok Sabha seat, by-polls for the Aizawl West-1 Assembly seat will also take place on Thursday.

The by-election to the Aizawl West-1 Assembly seat was necessitated after Zoram People's Movement's (ZPM) legislator Lalduhoma vacated it to retain his Serchhip constituency.