Centre sanctions one company of CAPF
SHILLONG: Filing of nominations for the October 21 Shella assembly bypoll ends on Monday with candidates of Congress, BJP and PDF among others expected to file their papers.
The filing of nominations started with the official notification last Monday.
The first candidate to file the papers was UDP’s Balajiedkupar Synrem followed by Independent candidate Komen Laitmon.
The scrutiny of the papers will be held on October 1 and the last day for withdrawal is on October 3.
Campaigning is expected to pick up pace after the filing of nominations.
The chief electoral officer, Frederick Kharkongor, said the Centre has sanctioned one company of central armed police force to ensure security.
He said this will be in addition to the existing state police personnel who will be manning the area to ensure a free and fair poll.
There are 11 vulnerable polling stations out of the total 58 in Shella.
Kharkongor informed that the Election Department has held a meeting with the state police for security arrangements.
He said the police nodal officers and the Superintendent of Police have prepared their plan for the security arrangements.
A meeting between the Sub Divisional Police Officer, Sohra and the chief electoral officer was held to work out the security arrangements.
Besides the deployment of one company of CAPF, different surveillance teams are also being stationed in the constituency.
There are as many as 11 polling stations which are in close proximity with the Indo-Bangla border and the police are in close touch with the BSF to ensure that no untoward incident takes place in the areas close to the international border.
The counting of votes will be held on October 24.
The bypoll was necessitated after the sudden demise of Assembly Speaker and United Democratic Party chief Donkupar Roy on July 28. Roy won the Shella seat for seven consecutive terms.
Centre’s nod to Joshua
Meanwhile, the BJP leadership at the Centre has approved the candidature of Joshua Warjri to contest the Shella seat after it was cleared by the state election committee recently.