Meghalaya Assembly elections: ‘Italy, Argentina, Sweden’ to decide the fate of Congress, BJP

In poll-bound Meghalaya, funny names of voters are keeping everyone amused.

Shillong, Feb 12: In poll-bound Meghalaya, it's a contest between the incumbent Congress and the resurgent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

While the BJP is hoping to repeat its Assam and Manipur election victories in 2016 and 2017 respectively in the upcoming Meghalaya Assembly elections and the incumbent Congress is struggling to save its 15-year-old government in the hill state, a lot actually depend on how Italy, Argentina, Sweden and Indonesia vote in the upcoming polls.

Now, you must be thinking what all these countries have to do with Meghalaya elections scheduled on February 27. Actually a lot, if you go by the voters' list of the Election Commission.

In fact, Italy, Argentina, Sweden and Indonesia are the names of voters of Umniuh-Tmar Elaka village under Shella constituency in East Khasi Hills district.

Sisters Promiseland and Holyland Dkhar and their namesake neighbour Jerusalem Khiewtam will also participate in the adult franchise.

"Many Khasi names have the potential to make you smile but finding hundreds of such names in a small village will result in people guffawing for hours," Elaka elected chief (Sirdar) Premiere Singh told PTI.

He said about 50 per cent of the villagers have a fondness for English words that rhymes good but not knowing exactly what they mean.

The sleepy Elaka, which is close to the Indo-Bangladesh border, has a little over 850 male voters and 916 female voters and have a record number of peculiar names registered in the voters' list.

Premiere was lucky that his educated father had given him a name that almost fit his position as the Elaka chief now and of him being the eldest son.

Not all people in the village were as smart or as educated and hence you will also find that days of the week become good names Thursday, Sunday, the chief said.
Some people also have names like Tripura and Goa, he added.

Hold your breath, Premiere said the best English name is that of a 30 year-old Class XII-passed woman whose mother Sweater named her I Have Been Delivered !

Office items like Table, Globe and Paper, members of the solar system like Venus and Saturn besides Arabian Sea, Pacific and Continent have also been taken.

Three Diengdoh sisters were found aptly named Request, Loveliness and Happiness by their mother Shuki--a Khasi word that translates to chair in English.

Their neighbours, sisters Goodness and Unity, are also a good friend of the Diengdoh family.

Except for Indian names Bharat, Mumtaz and Durga the rest are traditional Khasi names, according to the electoral roll.

Behold! Some of the candidates contesting the February 27 elections in Meghalaya also carry names of famous politicians.

While two Nehrus Nehru Suting and Nehru Sangma will be contesting from Pynursla and Gambegre seats respectively, Frankenstein and Kennedy are also in fray.

"In many cases, parents obviously do not understand the meaning of the names they give their children. Sadly, the children with funny names have to carry on with these names much to their embarrassment," columnist HH Mohrmen said.

Along with Meghalaya, two other northeastern states--Tripura and Nagaland--are also going to the polls in February. While Nagaland is voting along with Meghalaya on February 27, Tripura's date with election is on February 18. The election results of all the three states will be declared by the EC on March 3.

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