By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: The state election department has set the poll process in motion with the launch of the special summary revision of electoral rolls here on Wednesday.
The Meghalaya Election Atlas, SVEEP Music video — Tarak Tak Tak, Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) awareness video and Mission Unite report were also released as part of the programme.
Chief electoral officer FR Kharkongor said the VVPAT was an initiative for the benefit of the voters and would assure them that their vote went to the party chosen by them.
Responding to queries of political parties, he said the number of polling stations in the state for the upcoming elections have been increased from 2,771 to 3,082.
On the low urban turnout in polling states, he said the Election Commission in collaboration with political parties would encourage the urban voters to come out in large numbers and exercise their right to franchise.
The Election Commission will also have web-casting facilities in many polling stations besides round-the-clock static surveillance in addition to SMS and phone monitoring.
It was also informed that the final publication of electoral rolls was January 10 and the VVPAT machines would be used in all the polling stations in the state.
Earlier, East Khasi Hills Deputy Commissioner PS Dkhar informed that the district had altogether 15 constituencies with over 4.51 lakh voters.
He further said the district currently had 794 polling stations after addition of 148 polling stations.
Earlier, a representative of the Congress, Manbor Warjri urged the authorities to look into the VVPAT system consuming time in those polling stations where a large number of people come to vote. The VVPAT machines take seven seconds to print the slip to let the voter know about their choice of party.
UDP leader Allan Dkhar said the state, which has a long border, needed to be cautious as far as enrolment was concerned and take steps to ensure that illegal immigrants are not allowed to enroll.
Echoing similar views, G Ryntathiang from HSPDP said the verification of the newly enrolled applicants should be conducted in a strict manner allowing only genuine citizens to enroll themselves.
On the other hand, KHNAM leader Thomas Passah expressed concern that a large chunk of voters do not go to vote despite being enrolled and therefore it was important for the election department to educate the voters about the importance of voting during elections.
