By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: East Khasi Hills Deputy Commissioner, Sanjay Goyal on Monday informed that 57 more polling stations will be added to the existing 626 polling stations in whole district to ensure maximum participation of voters especially in the urban areas.
“Almost 10 per cent of new polling stations have been added to the existing polling stations in the district and the number has now risen from 626 to 683. This is being done purposely for the convenience of the public,” Goyal said.
Keeping in mind the possibility of a change in the voting trend in Meghalaya, Goyal said the district administration is trying to tap these changes and decided to step up possibilities to facilitate maximum participation of voters during elections.
As per statistics, Goyal said that in the 2008 election it was observed that the percentage of voters was higher in rural areas than urban areas.
“In 2008, the voters’ participation was more in the rural areas with almost 93 per cent as compared to the urban areas with only 82-84 per cent,” Goyal stated.
“This implies that there is some sort of indifference among the voters in the urban areas and because of this, we have come up with a set of new ideas to instill a sense of responsibility among the people and the youth,” Goyal said.
He also informed that unlike previously where the voters’ slip were being distributed by the concerned political parties, this time, the same will be distributed to the voters by the booth level officers of each polling station.
“A photo will be attached to the voters’ slip to act as a mode of identification and the district administration will be issuing these photo voters’ slips officially to all the booth level officers,” Goyal stated.
He also informed that to make information easily available to the people, they could visit the official website of the Chief Electoral Officer of Meghalaya for further information relating to the number of polling stations which are being mapped accordingly.