SHILLONG: Four companies of Central Armed Paramilitary Forces (CAPF) have been sanctioned for ensuring smooth conduct of the by-poll in Ampati constituency in Garo Hills of Meghalaya scheduled to be held on May 28 next.
The Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) FR Kharkongor on Thursday said that one company of CAPF from the state and the three more companies from outside the state would be deployed in the constituency .
Kharkongor mentioned that there were six vulnerable polling stations in the constituency but it has nothing to do with militancy and after the polling, one company of security personnel would be stationed in the constituency for counting and strong room duties.
Reacting to a query, he said that he had recently reviewed the poll preparations and meetings were held with different stakeholders involved in the election process.
However, the biggest challenge in the constituency is connectivity and the CEO has asked private telecom providers like Airtel, Jio and BSNL to strengthen their network since 36 out of 39 polling stations are covered by Airtel.
“ We have instructed the service providers to maintain an uninterrupted network since some polling stations would have web casting and monitoring is also important,” Kharkongor said.
The service providers have been asked to remain in touch with DC office for any logistics support.
The Ampati by-election is witnessing a fight between Congress’ , Miani D Shira, NPP’s Clement G Momin and an independent candidate, Subhankar Koch.
The by-election has been necessitated as former Chief Minister, Mukul Sangma won the February 27 Assembly elections from both Songsak and Ampati seats and decided to retain Songsak to pave way for his daughter to contest her first election from Ampati which has been nurtured well of Mukul Sangma.
