Election to the autonomous district councils in the Khasi and Jaintia Hills region concluded today at 4 pm.
The final voter turnout in the Khasi Hills region was recorded at 72.45 per cent out of 9, 96,518 voters.
Nongspung-Sohiong constituency recorded the highest turnout at 86.06 per cent while Jirang constituency seat the lowest at 51.46 per cent
District Council Affairs (DCA) Commissioner and Secretary Cyril VD Diengdoh informed that the polling passed off peacefully at 1,669 polling stations across 29 constituencies in Khasi Hills.
However, the election process in four polling stations in East Jaintia Hills was disrupted after a mob vandalised and destroyed EVMs at Wapung School A and Wapung School B polling stations under Musniang-Rangad constituency and Bataw A and Bataw B under Bataw-Lakadong constituency.
Returning officer Jacqueline N Kharpuri said the incident occurred around 11:30 am when a group of unidentified persons forcefully entered the polling station in Wapungskur and destroyed the EVMs and other official documents.
She said though the miscreants were not masked their identity was unknown to the polling officials.
Soon after the incident Deputy Inspector General of Police (Eastern Range) Davis NR Marak, both the district heads, Deputy Commissioner Shivansh Awasthi and Superintendent of Police Giri Prasad reached the incident site.
It is also reported that no voter turned out to exercise their franchise in Thangnub village under Saipung Nongkhlieh constituency in protest against the delimitation. The village was earlier part of the Sutnga Nongkhlieh constituency.
The final voting percentage in Jaintia Hills region will be made available with officials saying that compiling data from some polling stations takes time.
As per provincial data constituencies in West Jaintia Hills recorded a voter turnout of 84.36 per cent.
There are 158 candidates for the KHADC seats and 114 for the JHADC.
The counting of votes is scheduled for February 24.
For KHADC, three centres have been designated in East Khasi Hills District, SDO Civil Sohra Office, Pynursla SDO Civil Office, and ISBT Mawlai. The remaining counting centres will be at existing district offices.
