Shillong, April 12 (PTI/IANS): In the highest voter turnout in 20 years, around 71.37% of the 19.14 lakh voters of Meghalaya exercised their franchise in the Lok Sabha elections on Thursday, state Chief Electoral Officer F R Kharkongor said.
Re-poll was recommended in one polling station.
In the matrilineal society of Meghalaya, the number of women who had voted was more than that of men, the CEO said.
Polling was held for the state’s two Lok Sabha seats, Shillong and Tura, and by-election to Selsella assembly seat on Thursday.
“We have recommended re-poll in Konarchar poling station under Selsella assembly segment after the sector officers detected a mix up of EVMs for the by-poll and the parliamentary elections. It is a human error,” the CEO said.
He said there were reports of technical glitches in six polling stations where officials forgot to clear the mock poll data in the EVMs.
The returning officers have recommended counting of VVPAT slips in those places, Kharkongor said.
“The voter turnout was the highest in the last 20 years in the state. A total of 73.68 per cent women voted compared to around 69 per cent men,” Kharkongor said.
The counting will be held on May 23.
Sitting Congress MP Vincent H Pala and five others fought for the Shillong seat, while Mukul Sangma of the Congress was pitted against ruling NPP’s Agatha Sangma in a three-cornered contest in Tura.
Assam, Sikkim record over 78.23% polling
The first phase of polling for the Lok Sabha elections in Assam on Thursday recorded an average 78.23% of polling, election department officials said on Friday.
Kaliabor constituency recorded the highest – 82.09 per cent – polling, Tezpur recorded 79.15 per cent. The Jorhat Lok Sabha constituency came third by recording 77.49 per cent polling, while Dibrugarh recorded 77.26% voting.
The Lakhimpur constituency recorded 74.81% polling, the officials said.
Polling started at 7 a.m. on Thursday in 9,754 polling stations in the five constituencies, officials said, adding that while officially ended at 5 p.m., officials allowed the last person in the queue to cast his or her vote.
There were a total of 76,03,458 eligible electorates for the first phase of polls in Assam, including 37,37,970 female and 154 belonging to third gender.
A total of 41 candidates are in the fray in the first phase of polls for five constituencies in Assam.
The Election Commission of India has deployed a total 180 companies of security personnel to ensure smooth polling across the 9,574 polling stations. Apart from this, a minimum of one constable has been deployed in every polling station, officials at the office of the Chief Electoral Officer here said.
Officials said that a total of 614 Micro Observers have been used in the first phase of polling on Thursday, besides 151 Flying Squad Teams (FST), 137 Static Surveillance Teams (SST) and 118 Video Surveillance Teams.
Meanwhile, Sikkim recorded an overall polling percentage of 78.19 for its 32-seat Legislative Assembly and single Lok Sabha constituency with women voters outnumbering men in the north district, the Election Commission said on Friday.
The polling for both the Assembly constituencies as well as the Lok Sabha seat took place on Thursday and continued late into the night.
According to the final figures, 78.55% of male voters and 77.81% of female voters exercised their franchise.
In number terms, of the total 4,32,306 electorate, 3,38,001 exercised their democratic right in 567 polling stations to choose their representatives from among 150 candidates for the state Assembly and 11 for the lone Lok Sabha seat.
The North district saw 81.95 per cent female and 81.51 per cent male voters queue up before the polling booths. The district also recorded the highest polling percentage — 81.74. The lowest polling percentage of 75.60 per cent was seen in the West district.
Among the Assembly constituencies, Djongu in North district recorded the highest polling percentage of 86. Of its 9,523 electors, 8,190 voted. The constituency recorded a female voter turnout of 86.02 per cent, which was slightly more than the percentage of male voters that stood at 85.98.
The Himalayan state’s unique constituency Sangha — that has no existence on the state’s map and is without any geographical boundaries and permits only the monks and nuns to contest and vote — recorded the lowest polling percentage at 68.05. Among the voters, 68.18 per cent were monks, and 62.32 per cent nuns.
