Council by-polls: Polling ends on a peaceful note
Laban after casting his vote on Tuesday. (ST)
SHILLONG/NONGSTOIN/JOWAI: The by-polls to the seven District Council seats ended peacefully on Tuesday. The lone constituency in West Jaintia Hills recorded the highest voter turnout of over 87 percent while East Khasi Hills put up a poor show as compared to the previous years.
Voter turnout in the three constituencies of East Khasi Hills was as low as 45.20 percent compared to that in the West Khasi Hills constituencies.
Each of the three constituencies in West Khasi Hills – Pariong-Mawthadraishan, Rambrai-Jyrngam and Mairang-Nongkhlaw – recorded over 70 percent turnout even in the harvest season. The overall turnout was 70.03 percent.
Mairang-Nongkhlaw with 74.83 percent saw the highest voting percentage. It was followed by Pariong-Mawthadraishan with 73.28 percent.
Rambrai-Jyrngam constituency that had 37 polling stations with 24,581 voters recorded a turnout of 65 percent. War East constituency in West Jaintia Hills that had 18 polling stations saw 5,927 of the 6,773 voters flocking to the booths taking the percentage to 87.50. There was no report of untoward incident though all the 18 booths in the constituency were declared sensitive.
Returning officer Arun Kumar Kembhavi said the election was peaceful and lauded the voters who had exercised their franchise without creating disturbances. He also appreciated the role of all polling officials and the district police for fair polling on Tuesday.
In the three constituencies of East Khasi Hills, voter turnout was less than 50 percent.
Of the three, Laban-Mawprem constituency had the highest turnout of 49.49 percent followed by Nongkrem (45.48 percent) and Nongpung-Sohiong (42.92 percent).
However, the percentage of voter turnout was not final as the District Council Affairs was collecting reports from many polling stations. There were 86 polling stations in East Khasi Hills and 146 in West Khasi Hills.
District Council Affairs Commissioner and Secretary T. Dkhar said the election was peaceful.
VOTER TURNOUT
East Khasi Hills (Overall: 45.20)
Laban-Mawprem: 49.49%
Nongkrem: 45.48%
Nongpung-Sohiong: 42.92%
West Khasi Hills (Overall: 70.03%)
Mairang-Nongkhlaw: 74.83%
Pariong-Mawthadraishan: 73.28%
Rambrai-Jyrngam: 65%
West Jaintia Hills
War East: 87.50%