SHILLONG, Feb 28: The voter turnout in Monday’s Assembly elections in the state rose to 85.25% and it will go up further when the postal ballots are counted.
“If the polls were held in Sohiong which is a rural constituency where high voting has been recorded traditionally, the overall voting percentage would have gone beyond 86,” Chief Electoral Officer, FR Kharkongor, said.
The turnout in the 2018 elections in the state was 86.90%.
The urban apathy continued in the constituencies of Shillong. The voter turnout was between 62% and 67% in East Shillong, North Shillong, West Shillong, South Shillong and Nongthymmai. Pynthorumkhrah and Mawlai, which were the exceptions, recorded 73.31% and 79% turnout respectively.
Over 90% voters cast their votes in several constituencies such as Nartiang, Mowkaiaw, Sutnga Saipung, Khliehriat, Amlarem, Mairang, Mawthadraishan, Phulbari, Rajabala, Selsella and Dadenggre.
Most of the rural areas continued the tradition of high voting. At 92.73%, the Mowkaiaw constituency recorded the highest turnout.
The lowest turnout – 62.10% – was recorded in the South Shillong seat.
Many polling teams returned to Shillong on Monday night and early Tuesday morning after travelling from remote and difficult areas. Chief Election Commissioner, Rajiv Kumar complimented and expressed gratitude to all voters and polling personnel for their efforts in ensuring peaceful elections. The Election Commission said advanced planning, use of technology and strict monitoring ensured the peaceful polls. Re-polling has not been ordered in any of the polling stations in Meghalaya.
The state had 183 polling stations under the shadow zone. In some of these areas, runners were used to convey messages between polling parties and sector officers. A total of 264 police radio stations with 19 repeater stations were set up through the police network to cover these shadow areas.
