Meghalaya recorded 75 per cent voter turnout in the peaceful State Assembly polls on Tuesday.
Informing this, Meghalaya Chief Electoral Officer FR Kharkongor said, “Over 13.5 lakh of the 18.09 lakh voters in Meghalaya have cast their votes. This means around 74.62% polling was recorded.” However, he said, the final figure could go up after the data of the far-flung areas are added.
The Meghalaya CEO also stated that re-polling could be held in one booth of Raliang constituency in West Jaintia Hills district after polling was stopped due to certain EVM-related problems. However, he said that a formal report from the district election officer is yet to be received.
Informing that of the 3025 EVMs used in the polling, only 28 malfunctioned, Kharkongor said that two more polling stations in South Garo Hills and South West Garo Hills districts may also go for re-poll.
On the other hand, the killing of NCP candidate from Williamnagar constituency Jonathone N Sangma did not cast a shadow on the election as people came out in large number to cast their votes across the 23 constituencies in Garo hills region of Meghalaya.
Voting in Williamnagar constituency has been deferred and the date for the re-election has not been announced yet.
The voting in Garo hills was by and large peaceful.
Across different parts of Garo hills, there were over 30 polling stations, where reports of EVM and VVPAT malfunctioned during mock poll and during poll.
“In urban area, the malfunctioning of EVMs and VVPATs did not delay the process of voting as it was immediately replaced. However, in some rural areas, there were delay in starting of the polls,” said Ram Singh, Returning Officer of West Garo Hills.
Singh said that voting was not affected due to malfunctioning of EVMs and VVPATs.
The turnout was 75 per cent.
However, final tabulations are being made as voting still continues in different areas of Garo hills.