People in villages along disputed border can vote in upcoming elections: CEC

Registered voters living in villages along the disputed border with Assam can participate in the upcoming assembly elections in Meghalaya Chief Election Commissioner CEC Rajiv Kumar said on FridayKumar led an Election Commission of India ECI team in a twoday review of poll preparedness in Meghalaya The visit concluded during the dayPeople living in villages along the disputed border can participate in the elections despite what has happened Both sides have held joint meetings and discussions are taking place at the senior level as well We are alive to the situation and there is nothing to worry Kumar saidAlso read Uttar Pradesh Elderly couple found dead with throats slit in Kanpur villageThere is no problem We have reviewed the situation at our end and district officials from both sides have had detailed meetings he saidThe CEC said the commission has instructed 16 central agencies to work in a coordinated manner in expendituresensitive constituenciesAgencies were asked to follow standard operating procedures in doing proper checks of planes and helicopters coming to the state to avoid any political party or candidate trying to induce voters with cash he saidPolitical parties have to publish at least thrice in local newspapers and TV channels publicising cases pending against candidates with a criminal background and also explain why such people were nominatedKumar said all steps will be taken to ensure that the elections are free fair and participativeHe said 21 lakh voters in the state are eligible to exercise their franchise in 55 reserved seats for Scheduled Tribes and five unreserved constituenciesThere would be a total of 3482 polling stations with an average of 620 voters in each the official said adding 120 booths will be managed by women teamsA total of 81443 electors will be eligible to cast their votes for the first timeAt least six people including five tribal villagers from Meghalaya and an Assam forest guard were killed in a violent clash along the disputed border in November last yearAssam and Meghalaya have a longstanding dispute in 12 areas along the 8849kmlong interstate border and the location where the violence took place is one of thoseThe two states had signed a memorandum of understanding in March last year towards ending the dispute in six of the areasMeghalaya was carved out of Assam in 1972 and had since then challenged the Assam Reorganisation Act 1971 which demarcated the border between the two statesElections to the 60member assembly in Meghalaya are due this yearThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever