SHILLONG, AUG 22: The stage is set for the bye-elections to the two Assembly seats – South Tura and Ranikor in the state tomorrow.
Voting will take place on Thursday from 7am to 5pm. The counting of votes will take place on August 27.
The bye-elections have been necessitated following the resignation of former five-time Ranikor MLA Martin M Danggo on June 21 and NPP South Tura Agatha K Sangma on July 2, to pave way for her brother Conrad K Sangma to retain his chief ministership.
Conrad, the National People’s Party (NPP) national president and currently a member of Parliament from Tura is pitted against Congress’ Charlotte W Momin and independents John Leslee K Sangma and Chris Kabul A Sangma.
He was sworn in as the chief minister of the state on March 6. The NPP is leading the six-party Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) government.
In Ranikor constituency under South West Khasi Hills District, NPP’s Martin M Danggo will face UDP candidate Pius Marwein, PDF chairman P N Syiem and Congress candidate Jackiush Sangma.
State’s chief electoral officer Frederick R Kharkongor said all arrangements have been made to ensure free and fair conduct of elections in both the constituencies.
“For Ranikor which is a remote area that also shares the international border with Bangladesh, teams to 31 polling stations were moved yesterday itself,” Kharkongor said.
South Tura constituency has a total of 30,231 voters including 14,846 males and 15,351 females, 33 service voters and one NRI in 36 polling stations. While the largest polling station is Matchakolgre with 1337 voters, the smallest is Leper Colony with 151 voters.
The Ranikor constituency has 65 polling stations with a total of 29,685 eligible voters including 15183 males and 14487 females. Out of these, the largest polling station is Rangthong with 817 while smallest is Nongbahjynrin-Mawthabah with only 12 voters.
It may be mentioned here that the voting percentage in South-Tura during the February 27 Assembly polls held this year was recorded at 73.59 per cent while in Ranikor it was at 89.5 per cent.
Meanwhile, security in the two poll-bound constituencies has been tightened with four companies of central armed police force being pressed into service for each constituency.
By Our Reporter
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