Voting for the bye election to Shella Assembly on Monday recorded a voters’ turnout of 79.38 per cent upto 5 pm.
The voting percentage may increase as voters were standing in queues in some polling stations after 5 pm.
The voting hours was from 7 am to 5 pm.
The bye election will decide the fate of six candidates who are seeking their political fortune in which one of the will be the successor of late Donkupar Roy, who had represented the constituency for 31 years for seven consecutive terms since 1988.
Candidates in the fray include Donkupar’s son Balajied Synrem, who is the candidate of the UDP, Independent candidate Grace Mary Kharpuri, Congress candidate, Batyngshaiñ Ryngnga, People’s Democratic Front (PDF) Mosjo Wanswet, Independent candidate Komen Laitmon and BJP candidate Joshua Warjri.
The bye election to Shella constituency was necessitated following the demise of sitting MLA Donkupar Roy on July 28.
Roy, who was the MLA of Shella since 1988, was also former Speaker of the 10th Meghalaya Assembly and former president of the United Democratic Party (UDP).
There are a total of 29,763 votes for the bypoll – 14,809 male and 14,954 female including 127 voters belonging to the category of persons with disabilities and 7 service voters.
The polling was held in 58 polling stations which include 12 non-motorable polling booths including Nongriat village which has the double-decker living root bridge.
Counting of votes will take place on October 24.
