SHILLONG, FEB 27: Elections to the two autonomous district councils (ADCs) in Khasi and Jaintia Hills region on Wednesday ended peacefully amid high voting turn out of over 70 percent.
The voting percentage in the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC) and Jaintia Hills Autonomous District Council (JHADC) having 29 constituencies each is being recorded at 76.63 percent and 85.60 percent respectively till 9pm.
According to officials of the District Council Affairs (DCA) department, the figures are being compiled only on the basis of reports received from polling stations that have reported at the time of compilation.
People of the two regions came out in large number to exercise their franchise for electing their new representatives despite inclement weather.
The fate of 232 candidates contesting for 58 seats in the two tribal councils will be decided on March 2, when the counting takes place.
“The figures are not final. Tabulation and compilation of the final datas is still awaited (especially from polling stations in far flung areas) and we expect that the figures is likely to go up,” Commissioner & Secretary in-charge District Council Affairs (DCA) Tining Dkhar told reporters soon after polling came to a close at 4pm.
It may be mentioned that in the last 2014 elections, the voters’ turnout in the JHADC was recorded at 79 percent and KHADC at 72 percent.
Asked, the DCA senior official admitted that there were few technical glitches when cases of malfunctioning of the voting machines were reported from both Khasi Hills (7 EVMs) and Jaintia Hills (6 EVMs) and said, “These machines were immediately replaced and polling was conducted smoothly.”
From the law and order aspect, Dkhar said that the elections held in the two ADCs were by and large peaceful with no untoward incidents and reports relating to malpractices by political parties or candidates.
“The success of the elections is not only because of the district administration but due to active participation of the public in both the regions. I thanked the voters of the Khasi and Jaintia Hills for exercising their franchise despite inclement weather,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Commissioner & Secretary further informed that the department has also notified the counting centres for March 2. The counting centres for the KHADC will be held mainly in the NSCA stadium while for West Jaintia Hills and East Jaintia Hills, counting will be held at the DC’s office, Jowai and Jaintia Eastern College, Khliehriat respectively, he said.
He said that live telecast of the counting will also be done by the department in Shillong to reduce the rushing of public to the Polo stadium.
Of the 9,84,477 voters in the two district councils, the KHADC is having 7,35,143 voters (4.11 lakh females and 3.83 lakh males) while the JHADC is with 2,49,334 (1.28 lakh females and 1.20 lakh males).
By Our Reporter
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