Shillong, Feb 27: Post the completion of polling to elect representatives to the 11th Meghalaya Legislative Assembly on Monday evening, Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines from the East Khasi Hills District have been submitted to the strong rooms for counting. The elections were held in a peaceful manner and the voter turnout was reported to be high in most of the rural constituencies, official said.
Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Meghalaya, F.R Kharkongor informed that there are 13 strong rooms and 419 polling parties all across the State. There were also 600+ polling booths marked as ‘Vulnerable’ and 300+ booths marked as ‘critical’ in the 59 constituencies that went to polls on Monday.
Also, he said the voter turnout was around 75 percent till 5 PM and reports were awaited from many places. “Till 5 pm the voters’ turnout is approximately at 75% but the figure is likely to rise because we are yet to get reports from many districts and polling stations across the state,” he said.
He said that polling is still going on in four districts – East Jaintia Hills, Ri Bhoi, South West Garo Hills and West Garo Hills and a clearer picture can be given only by Tuesday.
“We do expect the figures to rise up because as per our initial assessment also we had assessed that close to 200 polling parties would be returning after 9pm so then we would get clearer data. About 400 plus polling stations would be voting beyond 9pm,” he added.
It may be mentioned that in the last 2018 elections, the turnout of voters was at 86.9 percent.
There were also reports of malfunctioning EVMs in a few polling stations, which led to delays in voting. The ballot unit replacement rate was at .82%, control unit replacement was at .79% and VVPAT replacement was at 2.69%. The CEO said he has taken note of these reports and that all such machines were quickly replaced and assured that they will be thoroughly examined.
Overall, the state elections have been largely peaceful and have been conducted in a transparent and fair manner, he said. “By and large it was smooth with very less hiccups. However, we had a few machines malfunctioning but not to a very substantial degree. There was also failure to erase mock poll data during the mock poll from three polling stations – two in East Garo Hills and one in East Jaintia Hills,” he said.
Further, the CEO also highlighted the challenges faced by the polling parties, who have to travel through difficult terrains to reach the polling stations. There were a total of 183 polling stations which were under the shadow zones. “We are grateful to the police that they were able to set up 264 police radio stations to ensure that through the police network we are able to communicate with all our teams,” he said.
The EC had also set up a temporary polling station at Leprosy centre under Nongpoh constituency for the leprosy patients. This also captures the spirit of the Election Commission’s view that no voters should be left behind, Kharkongor said.
Against those applying for form 12D, he informed that 91.8% of the 80 years old and above and 95% of the persons with disabilities (PwDs) casted their vote today.
Giving an overview of the arrangement for the counting on March 2, the CEO said there will be 13 counting centres all across the state.
“We have 22 companies that have been retained for guarding the strong room and also for post polls contingencies,” he informed. A total of 27 counting observers and 549 micro observers have also been deployed by the Election Commission.
