House readies for Presidential poll

SHILLONG, July 16: The members of the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly would exercise their franchise to elect the new President of the country on Monday.
The NDA has nominated Droupadi Murmu while the opposition parties have nominated Yashwant Sinha as their nominee.
Chief Electoral Officer FR Kharkongor on Saturday said all preparations are on track and three rounds of hands-on training and briefing for all Assembly polling officials have been completed.
The presidential ballot box has been kept inside the strong room under round-the-clock security.
Kharkongor said a green polling station has been set up for the first time, using local handicrafts and eco-friendly materials that reflect Meghalaya’s “organic heritage of being rooted in nature, connected to culture”.
In addition, the corridors have a green display and showcase electoral democracy through the ages in Meghalaya.
Among smaller states, the vote value of each MLA of Sikkim is 7, followed by Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram (8 each), Nagaland (9), Meghalaya (17), Manipur (18) and Goa (20).
The value of the vote of an MLA in Uttar Pradesh is the highest in the country. At 208, the total value of 403 MLAs in the northern Indian state is 83,824.
It was learnt that the state’s Rajya Sabha member will vote from Shillong.
Members of Parliament have a much higher vote value at 700.
A majority of the political parties in Meghalaya have agreed to extend their support to the NDA nominee in the upcoming election.