SHILLONG, Feb 25: The Election department has taken measures to increase vigil during the 48-hour of critical silence period before the state goes to elections on Monday.
The campaign ended at 4 pm on Saturday.
“The 48-hour is silence period. We have already taken confidence of political parties and apprised them of the rules and regulations required to be followed,” District Election Officer (DEO) of East Khasi Hills, Sibhi Chakravarthy Sadhu, told reporters.
He said the department alerted all the teams on the ground, particularly flying squads and surveillance teams, to be more vigilant in the next 48 hours to ensure that this period is not used by anybody for campaigning, distributing money or any kind of inducement and intimidating voters.
The DEO further said that steps have also been taken by alerting local people. He said security agencies have been identified and the international border has been sealed for this entire period to prevent any movement.
He said the seizure of cash, narcotics, IMFL and country-made liquor, which is significantly higher than that of the last elections, shows there is increased vigilance.
Sadhu said 75 teams were dispatched to the various polling stations on Saturday, adding the remaining teams will be dispatched on Sunday.
“All EVMs are ready. The CRPF personnel are going with the teams of polling personnel in case of vulnerable and critical polling stations. For the normal polling stations, one personnel will accompany a polling team,” the DEO said.
He said materials along with EVMS were issued for the seven constituencies on Saturday. The remaining polling stations will get the materials and EVMS on Sunday.
“In East Khasi Hills, we have 884 polling stations. With the Sohiong constituency not going to polls, there will be four polling personnel in each of the polling stations,” the DEO said.
He said there are 97 vulnerable polling stations.
“In terms of vulnerability, we assess if there are chances of intimidation or some section of voters being stopped by some people. We have identified five more critical polling stations based on the data from the last Assembly elections. Micro observers are being deployed to 102 polling stations. CRPF personnel are also being deployed to these polling stations,” Sadhu said.
He further said that the department identified some “expenditure sensitive pockets”.
“We have deployed more static surveillance teams, flying squads and video surveillance teams in these areas. In the expenditure sensitive pockets including West Shillong area, we are doing road and flag marches to give confidence to people and also to check elements which want to take advantage of the situation,” Sadhu added.
He said materials along with EVMS were issued for the seven constituencies on Saturday. The remaining polling stations will get the materials and EVMS on Sunday.
