Election Commission Prepares for Assembly Polls in Tripura, Nagaland & Meghalaya

GUWAHATI: Preparations for the Assembly elections in three states in the Northeast, namely Tripura, Nagaland and Meghalaya, have been started by the Election Commission (EC) of India.

The Assembly elections in Tripura, Meghalaya, and Nagaland are scheduled to be held in February next year, after the Assembly polls in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh.

An election official in Agartala, Tripura, informed that around 5,000 Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), manufactured by the Hyderabad-based Electronic Corporation of India Ltd, have been sent by the poll panel loaded on 15 big container trucks.

The poll official also said, "In presence of the representatives of the political parties, we have stored these EVMs here with adequate security measures. The EVMs would soon be provided to all the sub-divisions."

National level Master Trainers (NLMT), appointed by the EC, provided training to all the eight District Magistrates and Additional District Magistrates in Tripura last week on every important issue for proper management of the election, the official added.

In Nagaland too, resource persons from the EC and another organisation recently conducted a two-day training programme for the Deputy Commissioners and District Election Officers in the state, to equip the officials with requisite knowledge and skill for conducting the elections.

The important role played by the district electoral machinery, headed by the DCs and Election Officers in the overall conduct and management of the entire electoral process was stressed by Nagaland Chief Electoral Officer V. Shashank Shekhar.

Training of such district level officials for proper conduct of assembly elections would also be held in Meghalaya, informed officials there.

Meanwhile, the Election Commission Monday announced by-elections to seven vacant Assembly seats in six states to be held in November.

The Commission said that polling will be held on November 3 and counting of votes will take place on November 6.

Bypolls will be held in Andheri East in Maharashtra; Mokama and Gopalganj in Bihar; Adampur in Haryana; Munogode in Telangana; Gola Gokrannath in Uttar Pradesh and Dhamnagar in Odisha.

The notification for the bypolls would be issued on Friday and the last date for nominations would be October 14. The date of scrutiny of nominations and last date for withdrawal of candidature would be October 15 and October 17 respectively, said the poll panel on Monday.

The electoral rolls with respect to January 1, 2022 will be used for the bypolls.

The Election Commission said that an adequate number of EVMs and VVPAT machines have been made available and all steps have been taken to ensure that the polls are conducted smoothly with the help of these machines.

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