SHILLONG: The Meghalaya Election Department has asserted that it is well prepared for the big day on May 16 when fate of 10 candidates will be known for two Lok Sabha seats of Shillong and Tura in the State.
Chief Electoral Officer P Naik on Sunday said: “We are well prepared to conduct the counting of votes on May 16.”
Stating that the topmost priority of the Department was to ensure the safety of the EVMs, Naik said all the counting centres would be under the supervision of CCTV cameras. Besides hundreds of security personnel would guard the counting centres.
It may be mentioned that there will be 13 centres in Meghalaya where votes would be counted.
Naik said the counting of votes would start from 8 am and the name of the winning candidates would be officially announced by 5 pm.
Reacting to a query about the security arrangements for the city and the State on the day of counting, Naik said that the respective district administrations would look into the security arrangements.
While there are eight candidates for Shillong Parliamentary constituency – Vincent H Pala (Congress), Paul Lyngdoh (UDP), Shibun Lyngdoh (BJP), Amerington Kharshiing (AAP), Richard Shabong (CPI) and PBM Basaiawmoit, Denis Siangshai and Ivoryna Shylla (all Independents), there is a straight contest between Purno A Sangma (NPP) and Daryl William Cheran Momin (Congress) for the Tura parliamentary seat.