By Nava Thakuria*
Guwahati: The polling exercise for byelections in nine assembly constituencies Assam, Meghalaya, and Mizoram came to an end peacefully at 5 pm on Saturday. Five assembly constituencies in Assam witnessed nearly 70% polling, where Gossaigaon seat reported highest polling (76.71%) and Mariani recorded the lowest turnout (61.62 %) in the stipulated time.
Meghalaya also reported impressive turnout of voters in the polling centers. Till 3 pm on Saturday, Rajabala seat in Garo Hills recorded 66% voting, where Mawphlang constituency witnessed 64.51% polling and Mawryngkneng 62.14% till the afternoon hours. Mizoram witnessed election in Turial assembly seat, where the NDPP candidate was declared uncontested from Shamtorr-Chessor assembly seat in Nagaland.
In Assam, Thowra seat recorded 75.07 %, where Bhabanipur reported 74 % and Tamulpur 62 % polling. Altogether 31 candidates representing different national and regional political parties as well as independents were in the fray, among whom 7,96,456 general electors got the opportunity to elect five legislators to the 126-member State legislative assembly.
State chief electoral officer Nitin Khade, while expressing happiness over the peaceful polling, informed a total of 5,410 polling personnel were engaged in the polling exercise where 1, 869 ballot units, 1, 844 control units along with 1, 861 VVPATs were used. As a major push for conducting free & fair elections, live monitoring and webcasting was arranged by the authority.
The personnel belonging to central armed police forces were deployed at each polling station for security measures and to ensure a conducive atmosphere for the voting. In the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic, the authority took every possible precautionary measure to ensure that all the polling stations follow the corona related guidelines for the safety of voters and election officials.
Each and every polling station was sanitized prior to the event and the facility of thermal scanning, hand sanitizers, face-masks were made available. The electorates were ensured minimum facilities like drinking water, waiting shed, toilet, adequate arrangement for lighting, wheelchairs for needy persons, etc in all polling stations.
* The writer is a senior journalist
