Meghalaya will go to the Lok Sabha elections for the two seats – Shillong and Tura on April 19. The model code of conduct (MCC) has immediately come into effect following the announcement of the elections to the 18 Lok Sabha by the Election Commission of India on Saturday.
State’s chief electoral officer (CEO) BDR Tiwari said that Meghalaya is in the first phase of election and the date of polling has been fixed on April 19 while the date of counting on June 4.
He informed that the date of issue of gazette notification will be on March 20 while the last date for nominations is March 27.
Scrutiny of nominations will be held on March 28 and the last date of withdrawal of candidatures will be on March 30.
The term of the 17th Lok Sabha will expire on June 16.
Stating that the model code of conduct will be strictly enforced in the state, the CEO said, “Necessary action will be taken for compliance of the MCC. New works and new schemes cannot be initiated. If ongoing works are there, those can continue.”
He also informed defacement on property shall be removed within 24 hours and 48 hours of the announcement of the elections.
The CEO further informed that all measures have been taken to ensure conduct of elections in a free, fair, participative, accessible, inclusive, transparent and peaceful manner.
He said that an adequate number of paramilitary forces will be deployed to ensure law and order is maintained. He said vulnerable and critical polling stations have also been identified and necessary action is being taken.
Asked, Tiwari said that the ECI has given instructions to all central agencies to man the international border through the BSF and other parliamentary forces. “The BSF and other parliamentary forces are doing the needful and taking measures to comply with ECI instructions,” he added.
Further, the CEO said measures have also been taken to increase the voter turnout in the upcoming LS elections.
According to him, it is a challenge as voter’s turnout is quite less in the parliamentary elections when compared to the Assembly elections.
“If we compare both our parliamentary constituencies, Shillong traditionally has a lesser voting percentage compared to Tura. So we have worked out a strategy…to motivate young voters and counter the urban apathy…to ensure larger participation at different levels,” he said.
The CEO said that Shillong parliamentary constituency has 36 Assembly segments and Tura has 24 Assembly segments.
Meghalaya has a total of 22,17,100 electorate of which 10,94,947 males, 11,22,150 females and 3 third gender.
There has been an increase of 55,971 voters in the past one year from 2023-2024.
There are 3835 service voters, 11,179 persons with disabilities (PWD) voters, 23,793 voters who are 80+ years, 10,345 voters, who are 85+ years, 5 NRI electors as per the final electoral roll published on January 5, 2024.
The state has a total of 3512 polling stations of which 326 are in urban and 3186 rural.