Advance planning and extensive monitoring by the Election Commission (ECI) led by Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar along with Election Commissioners Anup Chandra Pandey and Arun Goel ensured smooth conduct of elections in Meghalaya yesterday.
The role played by the ECI along with the dedicated polling personnel has ensured that the election went smoothly without any hassles.
The hilly regions in Meghalaya involved meticulous planning and even travel through mountainous terrain, crossing rivers and inaccessible areas.
There were 74 non-motorable polling stations with two riverine polling stations, one at Kamsing in Amlarem Civil Sub-Division and the other at Kalatek under Sohra Civil Sub-Division.
There are a number of polling stations in Garo Hills region where polling parties had to travel across makeshift bamboo bridges and double decker root bridges.
Polling teams had to trek 6000 steps and traverse through the double decker living root bridge in Nongriat, Sohra to reach their polling station.
Similarly, polling teams with poll material traversed difficult terrains and steep mountain slopes to reach Mawsain polling station under Mawkyrwat constituency in South West Khasi Hill district and Kunongrim polling station in Shella constituency under Sohra Civil Sub-Division.
Further, the polling parties sailed via the ‘Boat of Democracy’ to reach Kamsing polling station which has only 35 voters. Another polling team conducted the polling smoothly at Amkoi close to the Indo-Bangla border.
In some areas of East Khasi Hills, polling parties had to use ropeways to transport polling materials due to the tough terrains. In the remote South Garo Hills, the teams had to cross Rompa River enroute to their polling stations.
To ensure safe movement of polling officials in the South West Khasi Hills area, a team of the State Forest Department’s Wildlife Division was also deployed at Nongnah, a common track of elephants.
Ensuring ‘No Voter to be Left Behind’, a temporary polling station was set up for 309 voters in Ri-Bhoi District in the Leprosy Colony under Nongpoh constituency.
Meghalaya had 183 polling stations under the shadow zone. In some of these areas, runners were used to convey messages between the polling parties and the sector officers. A total of 264 police radio stations with 19 repeater stations were set up through the police network to cover these shadow areas.
Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar has complimented and acknowledged the momentous efforts by polling teams who travel through such difficult terrains to ensure ‘No Voter is Left Behind’.
Due to the unfortunate demise of one of the polling officials in West Garo Hills district in a road accident while on duty, the Election Commission granted an ex-gratia payment of Rs 15 lakh to his family.
With the objective of ‘Inclusive & Accessible’ elections, arrangements were made by the Election Commission to facilitate home voting for 80+ and PwD voters via prior application in Form 12-D.
There has been an enthusiastic response and much goodwill generated by the citizens due to the above measures and polling parties left no stone unturned and made arduous treks across difficult terrain to ensure that the senior citizens, especially above 80+ and the PwDs are able to avoid queues and to vote from the comfort of their homes.
In Meghalaya, a total of 3553 applications for home voting were received from 80+ senior citizens and 1807 applications from PwDs with benchmark disability.
As part of the Election Commission’s initiative to provide a comfortable experience to women voters, 118 All-Women Managed Polling Stations in Meghalaya were set up which had all women polling staff including women security personnel.
With the objective to inspire young voters to participate in the festival of democracy, the Commission, as a unique initiative, also set up polling stations managed completely by the youngest available polling staff/ officials.
The Election Commission has been coordinating with all enforcement agencies and State administration too, to make wide-ranging arrangements for ensuring extensive monitoring and law and order arrangements in the states.
A total 1565 polling stations were covered by webcasting to ensure proper monitoring.
In Meghalaya, there were 181 polling stations bordering Assam where 161 polling parties had to traverse through Assam. Regular coordination meetings with officials from both the states facilitated smooth movement of polling parties and also curb flow of liquor and money.
Police teams set up 31 inter-state checkpoints and over 250 checkpoints within the State for keeping strict vigil in the period ensuing the polls. The interstate and international borders were sealed in the period leading to 72 hrs prior to the poll.
The Election Commission’s thrust on inducement-free elections led to sustained efforts for election expenditure monitoring. Due to the coordinated efforts of enforcement agencies in Meghalaya, both State and Central, extensive monitoring, marking of 34 expenditure sensitive constituencies in Meghalaya; adequate deployment of field teams, the State witnessed record seizures this time, which has far surpassed the seizures made in the entire duration of the enforcement of model code of conduct in the 2018 Assembly elections.
To encourage proactive and citizen centric reporting by the citizens on violations of the model code of conduct, the cVigil App was widely publicised by the office of the Chief Electoral Officer and District Election Officer.
