EC holds meeting with poll panel officials of three states

The Election Commission on Monday held a meeting here with Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs) of Tripura, Meghalaya and Nagaland to take stock of preparations for the February 2018 assembly elections in these states," a Tripura official said.

"EC officials apprised the three CEOs on the use of Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail machines at all polling stations in these states. Effectiveness of booth-level officers in the states was also discussed," the senior official of the Tripura Election Department said.

The five-year terms of assemblies in Meghalaya, Nagaland and Tripura will expire on March 6, 13, and 14, respectively.

Tripura's CEO Sriram Taranikanti, his Meghalaya counterpart F.R. Kharkongor and Nagaland CEO Abhijit Sinha, besides other officials attended the meeting.

Earlier, the poll panel reviewed the security situation in the three mountainous states.

While the Left Front rules in Tripura, the Congress holds power in Meghalaya while Naga People's Front-led Democratic Alliance of Nagaland rules in Nagaland. The Democratic Alliance is supported by the Bharatiya Janata Party.

A three-member team of the Election Commission, led by Deputy Election Commissioner Sudeep Jain, will visit Tripura from Thursday to review election preparedness and the ongoing special summary revision of electoral rolls in the state.

This summary revision is now on in Tripura, Meghalaya, and Nagaland with January 1, 2018, as qualifying date for inclusion in the electoral lists. The final rolls will be published in January next.

--IANS

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