Polling Underway for the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly

SHILLONG: The polling stations across the state of Meghalaya opened for voters at 7 AM on Monday. Some of the polling stations had long lines of voters waiting for their chance event before the officials started accepting the votes. The Chief Electoral Official reported voting of 26% across the state at 11 AM with the highest turnout of 36.96 % from the Eastern West Khasi Hills distinct.

The Election Commission also gave away medals to the first five people who cast their votes in each of the polling stations across the state. This step was taken to encourage more people to cast their votes for the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly.

The Election Commission has also set up the state’s first temporary polling station set up especially for lepers in the Leprosy colony Nongpoh Meghalaya. Women from local self-help groups were engaged in looking after the children while their parents went to cast their votes. Scouts and Guides as well as the security personnel helped out with the smooth conduct of the voting process, especially by helping out with the elderly and the differently abled.

The Chief Electoral Official of the state of Meghalaya FR Kharkongor announced that the dispatch of the polling parties started on Saturday. Polling will take place in a total of 3419 polling stations distributed across 59 constituencies of the Meghalaya Assembly. The polling parties with the responsibility of holding the voting in the Rongcheng Polling Station of the west South Garo Hills district were the first team to leave on the morning of Saturday.

The 2nd polling officer of the 44/8 Jangrapara Lower Primary School polling station which falls under the 44 Raksamgre Assembly Constituency has encountered with an accident. The accident took place in the Photamati region of the West Garo Hills district on the night of Saturday. The incident led to the death of a polling official named Chesham Ch Marak. The Chief Electoral Officer, FR Kharkongor had announced an exgratia of Rs 1500000 to the nearest of kin of the official.

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