Over 18 lakh voters in revised electoral rolls in Meghalaya

The final electoral rolls in Meghalaya were published on Wednesday with names of 18,30,104 voters ahead of the Assembly elections, Chief Electoral Officer Frederick Roy Kharkongor said.

A total 3,27,595 new voters, including 88,412 first-timers between the age of 18 and 19, were registered in these rolls that showed an increase of 21.8 per cent, he told IANS.

The ninth Meghalaya Assembly comprising 60 members was constituted on March 7, 2013, and its term expires on March 6.

Of the 18,30,104 voters, as many as 9,23,848 are women.

No one from the third gender has come forward to register in the latest electoral rolls though Form 6 was made available for them.

During the course of electoral revision, the names of 8,276 voters were deleted and 6,645 applications rejected, Kharkongor said.

The total number of polling stations in the state has increased to 3,082 from 2,485 in the 2013 elections.

Mawshynrut assembly constituency registered maximum 2,123 new voters while West Shillong seat recorded just 316 new voters.

Mawlai segment has the maximum 42,780 electors while Dalu seat has minimum 18,359 voters as per the revised electoral rolls.

On the other hand, Meghalaya's Systematic Voters' Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) initiative, 'Mission U Nite' (U and I towards Enrolment), has been shortlisted by the Election Commission as a nominee for National Awards 2017 for creatively engaging the youth.

Kharkongor said the campaign aggressively championed enrolment on educational campuses.

At the end of the campaign, he said, there was a net addition of 21,455 new voters to the electoral rolls.

--IANS

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