Meghalaya Elections: 13 Counting Centres, 22 CAPF Units, Over 500 Officials Ready As State Awaits New Government

As many as 13 counting centres have been set up across the state, with 12 in all district headquarters and one in Sohra Sub Division.

A total of 22 Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) units have been retained for ensuring a round-the-clock monitoring in all the strong rooms ( Image Source :Pallav Bora )

New Delhi: All necessary arrangements have been made in Meghalaya ahead of the counting of votes on Thursday for the state Assembly elections held on February 27.

As many as 13 counting centres have been set up across the state, with 12 in all district headquarters and one in Sohra Sub Division.

A total of 22 Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) units have been retained for ensuring a round-the-clock monitoring in all the strong rooms that have the Electronic Voting Machines of the 3,419 polling stations brought from the 59 Assembly Constituencies.

An overall three-tier security arrangement, with CAPF personnel guarding the innermost layer and state armed police keeping vigil of the second and third layers, have been put in place to ensure hassle-free counting. All the counting centres will have CCTV and web cast surveillance during the entire counting process.  

There will be 383 rounds of counting, with a maximum of nine rounds for the Mawlai Assembly constituency in the East Khasi Hills district and four rounds for smaller Assembly constituencies such as Dalu in West Garo Hills district.

Counting of votes at all the 13 centres will commence at 8 am and will initially begin with the counting of postal ballots for the first 30 minutes, followed by counting of polled votes in the EVMs.

The state Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), accompanied by District Election Officer (DEO) and Superintendent of Police (SP) took stock of the counting arrangements in the East Khasi Hills counting centre at the Polo grounds in state capital Shillong.

The counting centre at the East Khasi Hills has the state’s maximum number of 14 counting halls, one for each assembly constituency, while the counting centre in West Garo Hills district caters to 11 assembly constituencies and is the second largest counting centre in the state.

The Election Commission of India has deployed 27 counting observers and over 500 micro-observers to assist the counting observers at each table. All the tables will have a counting observer assisted by four counting assistants.

Additionally, the DEOs concerned have issued necessary orders pertaining to traffic arrangements and controlling victory processions post counting.