Meghalaya Assembly elections results: The counting of votes in the Meghalaya Assembly elections began on Thursday across 13 counting centres across the state.
(Meghalaya Assembly elections results) According to Meghalaya Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) FR Kharkongor, three-tier security arrangements have been arranged, with the innermost layer guarded by the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) and the second and third tiers guarded by State Armed Police.
“We have 13 counting centres around the state, 12 in each district headquarters and one in Sohra Sub Division. 22 CAPF companies have been retained to ensure 24×7 safeguard protocols in respect of the strong rooms containing the polled Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) of 3,419 polling stations in the 59 polling constituencies, and will remain in place until April 4 for any post-poll contingencies/exigencies “Kharkongor said.
The counting centres are all placed under CCTV and livestream surveillance. According to the CEO, there will be 383 rounds of counting, with a maximum of nine rounds for the largest assembly constituency Mawlai in East Khasi Hills District and four rounds for minor ACs such as Dalu in West Garo Hills District.
The counting began at 8 a.m. in all 13 centres. First, postal ballots will be counted for the first 30 minutes, followed by polled votes in the EVM Control Units.
Shillong has the most Counting Halls in the state, with one for each assembly constituency.
The West Garo Hills District Counting Centre serves 11 assembly seats and is the state’s second-largest counting centre.
The Election Commission has sent 27 Counting Observers, with around 500 micro observers supporting them at each table.
A counting Observer assists four counting assistants at each table.
A counting Observer assists four counting assistants at each table.
There were seven polling places whose mock poll data was not deleted. There is one in East Jaintia Hills, one in West Khasi Hills, one in Rambhai AC, two in East Garo Hills, Songsak AC, two in South West Garo Hills, Salmanpara ACs, and one in Mylliem AC. District Electoral Officers (DEOs) and Returning Officers (ROs) in the above polling stations have been asked to carefully observe Election Commission rules on counting.
In addition, following the counting of EVMs, five polling stations will be chosen at random by a lotteries, and manual counting of five randomly selected EVMs will be carried out in accordance with ECI regulations.
Furthermore, concerned DEOs have issued necessary regulations regarding traffic arrangements and victory processions post-counting in their respective districts.
Meghalaya Chief Minister and National People’s Party (NPP) president Conrad Sangma met Assam Chief Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma in Guwahati on Tuesday night, ahead of the counting of ballots for Meghalaya assembly elections. Sarma, in particular, is the convenor of the North-East Democratic Alliance (NEDA).
