Review meeting held

A Reporter

SHILLONG, May 24: An election review meeting was held on Thursday at the Circuit House in Ampati to review the election preparation for the Ampati by-election slated for May 28. The meeting was chaired by IGP CRPF Shillong Prakash D. During the meeting the security network for a peaceful poll was discussed while it was decided to instill confidence in the minds of the voters by area domination, route marches, flag marches, meetings and the like.

The IGP in the meeting insisted on seamless communication network to be established up to the polling booth level. Though insurgency has been almost wiped out, forces have been asked to be on high alert regarding fringe elements.

The deployment of forces at the polling booths well before the poll day was discussed. All officials and security personnel were advised to adopt a voter friendly approach.

The IGP CRPF also drew attention towards medical and emergency facilities during the poll day. Interactive sessions were also held with the public.

The meeting was also attended by DIG CRPF Guwahati Range JPK Ray, DC HDB Sangma, SP South West Garo Hills Boby SW Momin, DSP South West Garo Hills Silvestor Marak and General Observer Hansraj Chauhan besides senior officers of CRPF, BSF and SSB who have been deployed for election duty.

It may be mentioned that the battle for Ampati by-election is heating up with the National People’s Party (NPP) going all out to conquer the Congress fortress, while the Congress is fortifying its defences and is confident that it will be able to repel any attack of the combined opposition and emerge victorious.

Both the NPP and the Congress now have 20 MLAs each in the House of 60 and the Ampati battle ground will be a deciding factor as to which party will emerge as the single largest party in the State.