TURA: The fate of the nine candidates in the political fray, including sitting Congress legislator Deborah Marak, has been sealed in the ballot box as polling came to a close for the Williamnagar seat on Friday evening.
Over 75 percent voting was recorded before polls came to a close and election officials are expecting the final voting percentage to cross the 80 figure mark since many far flung polling stations have not been able to send word of their voting turnout during most part of the day.
Polling was peaceful with no untoward incidents reported from any of the 58 polling stations where voters queued up once polls opened in the morning.
Deputy Commissioner and Returning Officer Ram Kumar informed that barring minor glitches at three polling stations, polling went off smoothly.
“One EVM malfunctioned and had to be changed at Rongbing Boldak polling station while at Nokil Awe polling station in Williamnagar town the VVPAT was replaced due to a problem,” said Returning Officer Ram Kumar while speaking to The Shillong Times on Friday afternoon.
At Jongmegre polling station the poll personnel deployed for election duty reportedly failed to clear the mock poll exercise that was conducted before the start of polling. As per EVM rules the polling agents of the contesting candidates conduct the mock polling exercise to check the machine’s functioning. Usually, fifty votes are punched on the EVM machine which is then cleared before voting takes place.
“Although the clearance was not done by the polling personnel we have the VVPAT vote slips registered in the EVM,” informed the Returning Officer. According to him, the VVPAT voting slips of the mock poll will be removed when the EVM is opened on counting day.
Some of the early voters included sitting Congress legislator and party candidate Deborah C Marak and the NCP candidate and Jonathone Sangma’s widow Krinilla R Marak.
This election is crucial for all three candidates, Deborah Marak, NPP’s Marcuise Marak and Krinilla Marak. For the Congress and the NPP bagging the Williamnagar seat will raise their tally in the state assembly and also indicate the direction of the political wave taking place in the state.
For Jonathone Sangma’s widow it is a commitment to fulfill her late husband’s dream for the people of the constituency. Counting of votes on May 1st will decide on whom the voters have given their endorsement for the next five years.