Election to the 29 seats of Garo Hills Autonomous District Council (GHADC) will be held tomorrow amid elaborate arrangements made by the State government.
Over 7, 43,717 voters will decide the fate of 182 candidates in the fray from the 29 constituencies. Eight candidates are female.
Voting will begin from 7 am and conclude at 4 pm. The polling officials arrived at their respective polling stations yesterday. The counting of votes will take place on April 15.
The elections are being held amid boycott call given by pressure groups protesting against participation of non-tribals in the poll.
Four major political parties are in the contest. They included NPP and Congress which are fielding 29 candidates each, BJP which is contesting in 21 seats and UDP which has put up 15 candidates. The rest of the candidates are independents.
Chief Minister Conrad Sangma has recently said the GHADC elections are a test for the NPP-led Meghalaya Democratic Alliance government in the State.
According to Sangma, the elections will give an opportunity to the people of Garo Hills to give their feedback on the performance of the government.
Sangma who has spent the last few weeks campaigning in almost all 29 constituencies for his party also highlighted his government’s initiatives for development in the State especially Garo Hills.
However, Congress during the campaign trail lashed out at the corruption of the MDA Government led by NPP including alleged corruption in GHADC, non-payment of salaries to GHADC staff and misuse of various schemes in the council.
