829 "hyper sensitive"

Shillong, Jan 24 (UNI) The Election Commission has declared 829 of the 1582 polling booths as 'hyper sensitive' and 'sensitive' during the upcoming Assembly elections in Meghalaya, an election official said today.

The single-phase election to the 60-member Assembly will be held on March 3. Counting will be held on March 7. Filing of nomination papers will begin on February 8 and close on February 15. The last date for withdrawal of nomination is February 18.

As of now, 635 polling stations have been identified as 'hyper sensitive' and 194 'sensitive' owing to past history of political rivalry and militancy, Chief Electoral Officer P Naik told reporters here.

The Centre has sanctioned 50 companies of additional central paramilitary forces for smooth conduct of the polls. Most of these forces will be deployed in areas classified as 'hyper sensitive' and 'sensitive', the CEO asserted.

Mr Naik informed that the Commission also made arrangements to videograph the election campaigns and polling process to ensure that troublemakers were identified for necessary action as per law.

Meghalaya has an electorate of 12,30,152 voters, including 6,25,534 women voters.

Among the 60 constituencies, Tura in West Garo Hills district registered the highest number of voters with 39,706 electors, while Mawkhar constituency recorded the lowest number of 7,762 voters.

Meanwhile, the Election Commission issued guidelines to political parties and candidates for the smooth conduct of polls.

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