No withdrawal on last day, stage set for Ampati by-poll

SHILLONG: The stage is set for Ampati by-poll scheduled for May 28 as no one withdrew from the contest on Monday.
As the deadline for withdrawal of nominations ended, all the three candidates, Miani Shira (Congress), Clement Momin (NPP) and Subhankar Koch (Independent) are in the fray.
Chief Electoral Officer Frederick Kharkongor said on Monday all arrangements have been made for the smooth conduct of polls.
“Four companies of central security forces have been sanctioned by the Centre and out of this, one will be deployed to guard the strong room and also during the counting day,” Kharkongor said.
Out of the 39 polling stations, only six have been categorised as sensitive and the Election Department does not expect any militant activities.
The number of electorate in Ampati is 28,699.
Kharkongor said till date over Rs 5 lakh was seized in the run-up to the polls and the flying squads are on the job to contain the use of money power.
He said to ensure the deletion of mock poll prior to the actual polls, several steps have been taken.
In the past, there were instances of polling officers not deleting the mock poll causing embarrassment. This has also compelled the officials to count VVPAT slips during the counting of votes.
According to the CEO, the district machinery has been asked to train the poll personnel well.
“There will be notices pasted inside polling stations informing the poll officers to delete the mock poll data.
Besides, the returning officers will send text messages to the poll officers as reminders and it was decided that one of the members of the polling party will be a technical person.