81,443 people will cast their votes for the first time in the upcoming Meghalaya assembly elections, Chief Electoral Officer Frederick Roy Kharkongor said. Meghalaya’s total electorate is over 21 lakh and 3,482 polling stations have been set up for the upcoming elections, the CEO said.
A total of 13 counting centres will be established in the state. “We have some unique polling stations inclusive of two riverine polling stations. We also have polling stations close to the double-decker living roots bridge where polling parties have to climb up and down about 6000 steps,” he reportedly told ANI.
The state election commission’s objective is to take the polling percentage to 90%. Explaining the strategy in hand to achieve the feet, he said, “In the last Assembly elections, polling percentage was 86.9%. We aim to it to 90 and above this time. For this, we’ve identified 300 polling stations where voter turnout is less than the state average. We’re using music for voter awareness.”
Frederick Roy Kharkongor confirmed a political clash in the West Garo Hills area. However, he confirmed the incident didn’t affect the poll preparations in any manner. “A few stray incidents took place in Shillong. There was a clash between two parties in West Garo Hills but it was sorted out. 125 people bound under Sec 107 CrPC and 31 were arrested,” he said.
According to the CEO, a home voting facility will be prepared for particular sections of voters. “We have home voting option for persons with disability & those above 80 years. This exercise is on till 25th February. Our teams have gone to many places in hilly terrain to help these people to cast their vote,” Frederick Roy Kharkongor said.
Polling will be held in Meghalaya and Nagaland on February 27, while the counting is scheduled on March 2.
