By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: With only a week left for the Assembly polls, Chief Electoral Officer P Naik has said the election department is fully prepared to conduct a free and fair elections.
As many as 15 lakh voters will decide the fate of 345 candidates next Saturday.
Over 1 lakh new voters will exercise their franchise in this election and out of this, 47% are young voters.
Naik said that he expects large turnout in the February 23 polls and indicated that the candidates have taken the contest seriously due to the delimitation of constituencies.
Meghalaya was also close to Tripura as far as the turnout of voters in the last 2008 Assembly election (89. 04%) was concerned.
The campaigning has been a low key affair in Shillong, as majority of candidates are opting for door to door visits to meet the voters face to face.
A total of 61 companies of central para military forces have started arriving in the State from Tripura after the completion of polls in the neighbouring State.
Though many polling stations in Khasi Hills are termed as normal, several polling stations in Garo Hills, West Khasi Hills and Jaintia Hills are vulnerable.
Half of the total 2485 polling stations in Meghalaya have been marked as sensitive due to militancy, group clashes and also owing to the encroachment of elephants.
Another area of concern is inter- state and inter-national border areas. While Assam police assured its cooperation to maintain law and order in the border areas, the BSF is keeping vigil in areas where the State has porous borders with Bangladesh.
A far as Garo Hills is concerned, Naik said that the forces would be deployed in certain pockets which are vulnerable.
“We don’t foresee any problems in Garo Hills as no group has boycotted the elections”, he added.