State Govt to monitor social media content during polls

 
SHILLONG: The state government is planning to form a small team to monitor the content of social networking sites during the Assembly polls.
As the state gets ready for the Assembly polls, Chief Secretary Y Tsering has asked the DGP to form a panel so that there is no misinformation campaign during the elections.
According to Tsering, the misinformation campaign can do a lot of damage during the polls and the intention of the government is to ensure that there is free and fair election in the state.
The focus of the government will be mainly on Facebook pages and WhatsApp groups.
Other initiatives of the government will be to check paid news and money power.
The chief secretary said the complaints related to paid news have come down over the years.
As far as money power is concerned, the chief secretary said large scale transaction of money during the polls will be monitored.
“We will be careful and vigilant. There will be special squads to check money trail. If cash is brought from outside the state, this will also come under scrutiny,” he said.
The DCs and SPs will also monitor the situation, the chief secretary added.
VVPAT training
Chief electoral officer, Frederick Kharkongor has said 110 Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines would be used for training poll personnel in the run up to the 2018 Assembly polls.
Kharkongor said the training would be first held at the state level followed by district and polling booth levels.
The VVPAT machines, to be used for the first time in Meghalaya, will be connected to EVMs, facilitating voters to see the names of persons they voted for besides the party symbol.
After seven seconds of voting, a printed paper containing the name of the candidate of the voter’s choice and symbol will be dropped in a box.
Kharkongor said the intention of introducing VVPAT machines was to ensure that the process instilled faith among voters.