From Saurav Bora
UMLING LAMBRANG (Ri Bhoi): For Paskal Maring, this election is all about a 4.2 km broken road connecting his laidback village to the national highway in Umling.
“I have cast my vote early in the morning hoping that it brings about transformation. To start with, the 4.2 km stretch, which is broken in parts and rendered muddy by yesterday afternoon’s thundershowers, needs to be repaired for good,” Paskal, who rides an auto-rickshaw in the Nongpoh region, told The Shillong Times.
“This road has not been properly repaired in the past decade for which communication becomes a problem,” the man, in his thirties now, rued.
Paskal isn’t the only one who has to deal with the treacherous stretch. At the polling booth in LP school here, first time voters and school dropouts, Rimin Savio Makri and Bester Maring, were worried about education as well.
“Not just the road, we do not have a proper school here. I had to drop out early for this reason. We also need jobs,” said Rimin, who works in a farm, with Bester nodding his head in acknowledgement, once they were out of the polling booth. The polling officer at the booth informed that more than 220 of the 270 voters had cast their votes by noon.As is the norm, four central security guards and a local policeman were deployed in the polling station.
“We are having an easier time here than during our stint at Tripura earlier in the month. Voting has been peaceful and smooth so far,” said a security guard at the booth.
At Umling, Morris Lapang, a 59-year-old, thanked his lucky stars that it did not rain on Tuesday. “Or else the road to the polling booth from my village would have been difficult to walk on,” Morris said, as he queued up to the polling booth.
Asked which party had a greater chance in Nongpoh, he smiled and said, “Nothing can be said as of now. But the main fight will be between Congress and UDP.”
Polling pace
Unlike some of the urban polling booths where the pace was sluggish to start with, those in the interiors made a brisk start. From octogenarians to teenagers, people of all ages came to vote from 7 in the morning.
Even in places like Byrnihat under Jirang constituency, a booth with 533 voters had completed about 35 per cent polling by 10.30 am, a polling officer informed.
By 3.30 pm, polling in most of these semi-rural booths was over.
District election officer CP Gotmare said, “As per reports received till 8.30 pm, the polling percentage in Ri Bhoi is 70.35 per cent. However, this is not the final report because most of the people have not submitted the online reports.”
During the 2013 election, Ri Bhoi registered over 88 per cent turnout.
“Apart from one location, where Rs 2.41 lakh (being distributed among voters) was seized by election authorities, there were no other incidents in the district till late evening,” Gotmare informed.
Border areas
The situation in the border areas was peaceful. “We are coordinating with the district and police administration in Assam and the situation is under control. In Hamren (West Karbi Anglong) as well, the district and police officials are on alert,” Gotmare said.