Election campaigning came to a halt in Meghalaya today evening, 48 hours before the state goes to polls on February 27, leading to the imposition of security restrictions across the state.
With campaigning ending at 4pm, all electioneering, campaigning and propagating regarding election issues is prohibited. All the district election officers have directed all political parties and candidates to take down, remove and eradicate all such forms of propagation of election matter, such as hoardings, banners, posters, advertisements, etc that they have erected or installed in all polling areas.
In the last leg of the campaign, Chief Minister Conrad Sangma held a meeting at Tura Bazaar. He said it is both customary and significant as his father and former Lok Sabha Speaker, (L) P.A. Sangma, also concluded his campaigns at the very spot he was standing on.
The BJP saw a slew of star campaigners during the campaign period. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the ultimate campaigner pitched by the party. Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Union Minister Road Transport, Nitin Gadkari, party president J P Nadda, Assam CM and North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) chief Himanta Biswa Sarma and others visited the state to woo voters to increase their current seat of two by filling candidates for all the assembly seats.
The opposition TMC held a rally in Umroi before the campaign hour ran out. The party also had star campaigners in TMC chief Mamata Banerjee, general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, TMC MLA Derek O’Brien, who has been campaigning in the State for a month, TMC MP Mahua Moitra.
The Congress had party leader Rahul Gandhi, Pawan Khera and several leaders. Several press conferences were held with no major rallies.
Both the TMC and the Congress held separate press conference before the silence period to thank their supporters. AICC media coordinators, Bobeeta Sharma and Adv. Mathew Anthony remarked that Meghalaya will always remain musical and peaceful not only during elections but forever.
Political parties like the nascent Voice of the People Party (VPP) and other parties like the UDP, HSPDP and PDF held rallies and road shows.
