Shillong. January 18: The Election Commission of India has today announced the date for the Elections to the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly 2018, informed the Chief Electoral Officer, Meghalaya, Shri.F.R Kharkongor while addressing media persons at the Conference Hall, Meghalaya Main Secretariat, Shillong. He said that the date of Issue of Gazette Notification is on 31st January 2018, the last date for filing of Nominations is on 7thFebruary 2018 while the date for Scrutiny of Nominations is on 8th February 2018 and the date for Withdrawal of candidatures is on 12th February 2018.The Date of Polling in respect of Meghalaya is on 27th February 2018 while Counting of votes will be held on 3rd March 2018. It may be mentioned that the term of the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly will expire on 6th March 2018.
Mr. Kharkongor also informed that with the announcement of the polls, the Model Code of Conduct comes into force with immediate effect, adding that all the provisions of the Model Code of Conduct will apply to the whole of Meghalaya and will be applicable to all candidates, political parties and, the State Government. The Model Code of Conduct shall also be applicable to the Union Government in so far as announcements/ policy decisions pertaining to the State of Meghalaya is concerned. With regards to the ceiling of election expenses for candidates, he informed that as per the revised ceilings, the maximum limit of election expenses for the Assembly Constituencies is Rs. 20 lakhs per candidate and the candidates are required to furnish their accounts of expenditure within 30 days of declaration of results.
The CEO, Meghalaya further informed that Webcasting will be used for the first time in Meghalaya in 193 identified polling stations for LIVE monitoring of the election process. Also, 60 All Women Managed Polling Stations, one in each constituency, manned by women polling staff, women police and women security personnel will be introduced in this election. He also added that VVPATs will be used in all the polling stations across the State of Meghalaya while also informing that the total number of electorates in the State as per the final rolls is 1831487, with a total number of 3082 polling stations in the 60 Assembly Constituencies of the State. He further added that, of the 3082 Polling Stations, 2025 are classified as Normal Polling Stations, 536 as vulnerable, 454 as critical and 67 as both vulnerable and critical. He also said that over 21 thousand polling officials would be engaged in the conduct of the entire election process.
