35 pc voter turnout recorded till noon in Megahalaya bypoll

A voter turnout of 35 per cent was recorded till noon for the ongoing Assembly bypoll in Chokpot constituency of Meghalaya.
"Voting is on in all the 46 polling booths in the constituency. The voter turnout till 12 noon was about 35 per cent," Returning Officer Tangseng G Momin told PTI.
There was no untoward incident and voting was peaceful, he said, adding that information from all booths was yet to be obtained in view of poor connectivity.
Over 24,000 electors are eligible to exercise their franchise to elect one out of the four candidates in fray.
Over 800 additional paramilitary personnel were pressed into service to ensure that the byelection runs smoothly in the "hypersensitive" Chokpot constituency.

Out of 46 polling stations, 44 are tagged as hypersensitive and sensitive on account of militancy.
The seat fell vacant following the death of Clifford R Marak of Garo National Council, whose wife Kalpana Sangma is among the contestants.
The other candidates include Bluebell R Sangma, widow of former legislator Mason S Sangma who died in 2012, National Peoples' Party's candidate Phillipole D Marak and an independent.