Polling begins peacefully in Meghalaya

Polling began peacefully for the 60-member Meghalaya Assembly at around 0700 hours this morning.

Initially, the voter turnout was sparse due to the chilly weather.

However, election to one seat Willimnagar assembly constituency in East Garo Hills was countermanded following the killing of Nationalist Congress Party candidate Jonathone Sangma.

The election commission is yet to fix the date for polling in Williamnagar assembly constituency.

Large numbers of electorates are expected to exercise their adult franchise in the later part of the day.

"They will come out later in the afternoon," said Joseph, a Congress worker manning a stall outside a polling station in Don Bosco Sqaure.

Altogether, 60 Poll Observers, including 18 police observers have been deployed in their respective zones to oversee the smooth conduct of polls.

As many as 106 companies of central armed police force have been deployed to ensure an

incident-free polling during the state's eighth Assembly election.

The Border Security Force had also tightened vigil across the state's international border with Bangladesh.

Polling would be webcasted at 183 polling stations and 66 polling stations would be manned by all women folks for the first time in Meghalaya's election history.

Altogether, 340 polling stations are identified as critical and 580 as vulnerable.

Moreover, in all the polling stations, Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) will be used.  Special ramps were also erected for the physically challenged in all the polling booths.