Voting for the Legislative Assembly in Meghalaya began at 7 am on Monday. Elections are being held on 59 out of 60 seats in the state. Voting in the Sohyeong constituency has been postponed due to the death of one of the candidates.
The fate of a total of 369 candidates is at stake in the Elections. There are a total of 21.6 lakh voters in the state. The polling will continue till 4 pm and the counting of votes will take place on March 2. The ruling National People’s Party (NPP) is fighting to stay in power and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Trinamool Congress (TMC), and other regional parties are fighting to come to power.
Chief Electoral Officer F. R. Kharkongor informed that polling is taking place at 3,419 polling stations. Of these, 640 polling stations have been identified as ‘sensitive’ and 323 as ‘challenging’. Of the total 369 candidates, 36 are women, out of which the Congress has the maximum number of 10 women candidates.
The Chief Electoral Officer said, “Over 19,000 polling personnel and 119 contingents of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) have been deployed in the polling stations. State policemen are also helping them in maintaining law and order.” Chief Minister Conrad Sangma is in the fray from the South Tura assembly seat.
Leader of the Opposition and Trinamool’s Mukul Sangma is contesting from two seats, Songsak and Tikrikilla. The ruling NPP has fielded its candidates on 56 seats.
Congress and BJP are contesting on 59 seats while Trinamool Congress has fielded candidates on 58 seats. United Democratic Party (UDF) has 46 candidates in the fray.