Advance planning, use of technology and strict monitoring ensure largely peaceful elections in Meghalaya & Nagaland

Polling for General Elections to the State Legislative Assembly of Meghalaya and Nagaland was held today across 59 ACs each in the two states. Polling for 23-Sohiong (ST) AC in Meghalaya was adjourned due to the death of one of the contesting candidates. Since 31-Akuluto AC in Nagaland remained uncontested with only one candidate, no Poll was required there. Polling across 3419 polling stations in Meghalaya and 2,291 PS in Nagaland went off peacefully today. Advance planning and extensive monitoring by the Commission led by Chief Election Commissioner Shri Rajiv Kumar along with ECs Shri Anup Chandra Pandey and Shri Arun Goel ensured smooth conduct of elections in the two states with no repoll reported in any of the 5710 polling stations.

Polling was also held today in 98-Erode (East) AC of Tamil Nadu, 60-Sagardighi AC of West Bengal where bypoll had to be scheduled to fill up the vacancies due to death of sitting candidate as also in 23-Ramgarh AC of Jharkhand due to disqualification of sitting member. Voting in 215-Kasba Peth AC and 205 – Chinchwad AC in Maharashtra was successfully held on Sunday 26th February 2023.  No voting was required in 01- Lumla (ST) AC of Arunachal Pradesh with the seat declared uncontested.

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 2 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. The State of 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.

Polling Teams trek  6000 steps & traversing through the double decker living root bridge in Nongriat, Sohra to reach their polling station

⁦Polling parties safely arriving via the BOAT OF DEMOCRACY at Kamsing polling station with only 35 voters & safe arrival of polling party at Amkoi close to the Indo Bangla border

Polling team treks its way for about 4 hours to               Polling parties in East khasi hills using ropeways

 reach polling station at Mawkyrwat                                  to transport polling materials in tough terrains

Polling parties in remote South Garo Hills crossing Rompa River enroute to their polling stations

Polling teams with poll material traversed difficult terrains and steep mountain slopes to reach Mawsain Polling Station under 36-Mawkyrwat A/C in South West Khasi Hill district and 26/3 Kunongrim, 26-Shella AC under Sohra Civil Sub Division.

Chief Election Commissioner Shri Rajiv Kumar 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 Commission granted an ex-gratia payment of Rs 15 lakh to his family.

Participative, Inclusive & Accessible elections

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 are making arduous treks across difficult terrain to ensure that the senior citizens, especially above 80+ and the PwD 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. In Nagaland, a total of 3,228 applications for home voting were received from 80+ senior citizens and 173 applications from PwDs with benchmark disability.

All efforts were made to cater to specific requirements. To ensure safe movement of polling officials in the South West Khasi Hills area, a team of the State Forest Dept’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 9-Nongpoh Assembly Constituency in Meghalaya.

Before                                            After

Photo from 9-Nongpoh Assembly Constituency in Ri-Bhoi District,

As part of the Commission’s initiative to provide a comfortable experience to women voters, 387 All-Women Managed Polling Stations in Nagaland and 118 in Meghalaya were set up which had all women polling staff including women security personnel.

Women polling team in Nagaland

An eco-friendly model polling station at Mawthengkut in Meghalaya. 59 Model Polling stations set up in Meghalaya and 39 Model PS in Nagaland. All women managed PS in 8 Western Angami AC in Nagaland

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.

PS No. 1 Science College 8 western Angami AC Kohima District

ECI Volunteers facilitating senior citizen & PwD Voters at polling stations

Peaceful, violence free and Transparent Elections

ECI has been coordinating with all enforcement agencies and State administration of adjoining States too, to make wide-ranging arrangements for ensuring extensive monitoring and law and order arrangements in the states. A total of 1381 Polling Stations in Nagaland were being monitored online through webcasting, as compared to 488 Polling Stations during the 2018 Assembly Elections. Similarly, in Meghalaya, a total of 1565 PS were covered by webcasting to ensure proper monitoring.

Webcasting facility in a PS in remote South Garo Hills region

In Nagaland a call for smooth conduct of Election prompted many Village Councils, Organizations and Unions to pass resolutions like banning of Youth Camps, Proxy voting, distribution of money, liquor etc. Various civil society groups and village councils in Nagaland also came forward to appeal for inducement free and ethical elections. Women’s group in Phek district set up gates to curb supply of liquor during the election period.

Deployment of Observers in the two states for extensive and field level 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 nakas and over 250 nakas 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.

Inducement Free Elections

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 and Nagaland, both State and Central, extensive monitoring, marking of 34 expenditure sensitive constituencies in Meghalaya and 42 in Nagaland; adequate deployment of field teams, both the States witnessed record seizures this time, which has far surpassed the seizures made in the entire duration of the enforcement of MCC in the Assembly Elections 2018. Over 23-fold increase in seizures as compared to Assembly Elections 2018 has been witnessed.

For the first time, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had set up a Camp Office in Kohima. There have been some big operations in Meghalaya & Nagaland by DRI where they have seized Heroin worth 17.13 Crore in East Khasi Hills and 15.91 Crore in Chumukedima District in Nagaland.

The total seizures as on 27th February 2023 in the three states of Meghalaya, Nagaland and Tripura amounts to Rs 169.64 Crore. In the bye- elections held in the states, seizures worth Rs 2.92 crore were done.   

To encourage proactive and citizen centric reporting by the citizens, on MCC violations, the cVigil App was widely publicized by the office of the CEO/ DEO All the citizens were encouraged to turn up in large numbers at their nearest polling stations and to collectively strive to contribute to a higher voter turnout than 2018 Assembly elections. Special efforts were done by the states to encourage and inspire youth and urban voters to participate in the election process. CEO Meghalaya in collaboration with State Election Icon Summersalt band released a motivational SVEEP song.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHWIz7M_NmQ ).

State & District Sveep Icons in Nagaland also appealed to the voters to participate in the elections. Nagaland State PwD icon Ashe Kiba in a video message urged voters to cast their vote as Vote is their Voice.

 First time voters in Meghalaya and Nagaland cast their vote during the elections

Polling for the Tripura Legislative Assembly was held on Feb 16, 2023 in a largely violence free and peaceful manner.

Counting of votes and the results for all the three states and the bye-elections will be declared on 2 March 2023.

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