By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Oct 26: On the eve of the publishing of the integrated draft electoral roll, the state’s Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), BDR Tiwari, on Thursday, said there are altogether 21,86,151 electorates in the state including three third gender voters. Among them, female voters continued to be more in numbers with a little 11.05 lakh in comparison with male voters, who numbered 10.81 lakh.
“There are 10,81,006 male voters and 11,05,142 female voters and three third gender voters. The total service voters are 3,848,” Tiwari said.
He added that till date, 100% EPIC/voter ID card has been distributed and the elector-population (EP) ratio as on January 5, 2023, is 645 and the gender ratio in Meghalaya in the electoral roll is 1,022.
The CEO said there are 3,482 polling stations across the state.
According to him, 32 new polling stations have been proposed and two polling stations have been merged, which will push the total number of polling stations to 3,512 as on October 27, 2023.
Tiwari said a meeting was held with political parties where the schedule was briefed.
The CEO said that as per the special summary revision, the period for filing of claim and objections is October 27 to December 9.
During this period, there will be two special campaign dates — November 11 and 18. On these days, Booth Level Officers (BLOs) will conduct their special campaign on the polling station.
A total of 3,512 BLOs are expected to be in the field, according to the CEO.
Asked about the measures to ensure that persons who are non-Indians, especially those hailing from the areas near the Indo-Bangladesh border, do not get listed in the electoral roll, the CEO clarified that after filing claims and objections, the field inspection and verification exercise will be carried out.
As per the SOP laid down by Election Commission of India (ECI), claims and objections are properly disposed of to ensure accurate entry in the electoral roll, he added.