EC team to visit Meghalaya this week to review preparedness for 2023 assembly polls

Shillong: A team of Election Commission officials will visit Meghalaya this week to review preparedness for the assembly polls due next year, an official said on Monday.

The office of the chief electoral officer in the state has sought deployment of 119 companies of central armed police forces for the 2023 assembly polls, he said.

“An EC expenditure team will visit Meghalaya this week and hold review meetings with state and central government agencies,” Chief Electoral Officer FR Kharkongor told PTI.

He said the EC team will hold discussions with officials of different agencies, such as the police, income tax and excise departments.

“We have sought deployment of 119 companies of central armed police forces as there are 782 vulnerable polling stations and 402 have been identified as critical. These numbers are dynamic and may change as per the situation on the ground, Kharkongor said.

The state election office is also gearing up to enrol as many eligible electors as possible.

Another senior officer of the CEO’s office said campaigns for the enrolment of voters have been successfully held at Tura, Jowai and several other district headquarters where entry of new electors is “not satisfactory”.

Meghalaya has over 21.11 lakh eligible voters till early last month and of them, 10.68 lakh are women.