Voters in villages along disputed border with Assam can vote in Meghalaya Assembly election: EC

Shillong: Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajeev Kumar said here on Friday that voters living in areas along the disputed border with Assam would be allowed to cast their votes in the upcoming assembly elections in Meghalaya.

“We are alive to the situation and there is nothing to worry. We have reviewed the situation and district officials on both sides of the interstate border have held detailed meetings.”

Assam and Meghalaya have disputes at 12 places along the 884.9 km long inter-state border.

The two states had earlier signed an MoU in March last year to resolve six out of the 12 disputed areas, while discussions are on to resolve the remaining six disputed areas.

Kumar was accompanied by two Election Commissioners Anup Chandra Pandey and Arun Goel and senior Election Commission officials. He said that all steps would be taken to ensure free, fair and participatory elections in Meghalaya.

The CEC said that 21,61,729 voters including 10,92,326 women and 81,443 first-time voters in Meghalaya are eligible to exercise their franchise in 3,482 polling stations covering 55 ST reserved seats and five general constituencies.

The Election Commission team from Meghalaya went to Nagaland and held several meetings in Kohima with political parties and state civil and security officials.

Nagaland Chief Electoral Officer V. Shashank Shekhar and nodal officers of the state police also made a presentation on election preparedness during the meetings.

Later the ECI team also interacted with the first time voters.

The EC team is likely to return to Delhi on January 14 or 15 after holding meetings in Nagaland.