SHILLONG: The Meghalaya Assembly polls will be held sometime in February as the preparations, including the final electoral rolls, will be completed only by January next.
There was speculation that the polls may be preponed to club with two other states, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, which are going to the polls this year end.
However, Chief Electoral Officer Frederick Kharkongor said during the recent meeting with the officials of the Election Commission of India, the poll panel had only referred to the elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh scheduled for this year.
“The Election Commission officials only asked about the 2013 date for the Meghalaya polls which was on February 23 that year,” Kharkongor said.
He, however, said Meghalaya is ready for the polls any time.
Besides Meghalaya, Nagaland and Tripura will also go to polls simultaneously in the early part of next year.
Indicating that the polls will be held as usual, he said the programme for special summary revision with January 1, 2018, as the qualifying date was approved by the Election Commission during the recent meeting.
As per the schedule, the final publication of the electoral rolls will be on January 10 next year.
Kharkongor said the election department will target the leftover voters, including those who attained 18 years.
While the draft electoral rolls will be published on September 27, the period for filing claims and objections will be from September 27 to October 31 which will be followed by verification of names.
Besides, special campaign dates have been fixed for October 7 and 21 and disposal of claims and objections will be on November 13.
As per the schedule accepted by the Election Commission, updating the data base, merging of photographs and printing of supplementary lists will be by December 19.
The state election department is targeting the enrolment of 18 lakh voters before the state goes to the polls early next year.
As on August 16, the number of voters in the state is 17,54,162.
