Election Commission of India Announces Shella By-Poll Date
A Correspondent
SHILLONG: The by-poll to the Shella assembly constituency will be held on October 21 the Election Commission of India announced on Saturday.
The counting of votes will be held on October 24.
According to the notification of the Election Commission of India, the notification for the by-poll will be given on September 23, while the last date of filing of nomination papers is September 30.
The scrutiny of the nomination papers will be held on October 1 and the last date of withdrawal of candidature is October 3.
The by-poll was necessitated after the sudden demise of Assembly Speaker and United Democratic Party (UDP) chief Dr Donkupar Roy.
It may be mentioned that Dr Roy won the Shella seat for seven consecutive terms before he died of illness on July 28 this year.
The UDP has decided to field Dr Roy’s son, Balajied Synrem for the by-poll.
It may be mentioned that the partners of the UDP in the ruling coalition Meghalaya Democratic Alliance has urged its partners not to field any candidate for the by-poll but the Shella unit of the National People’s Party has urged the party to field a candidate.
Meanwhile, as per the direction of the Chief Election Commissioner of India, the state Election Department stated that it will be endeavouring to make Shella the first “green elections” in the state and to also perhaps have some eco friendly polling stations.