On Thursday, February 9, Meghalaya Police stated that at least 31 supporters of the National People’s Party and the opposition TMC were arrested in Meghalaya’s West Garo Hills region for their alleged participation in pre-election violence earlier this week.
A police officer said that the people who were arrested were “part of a gang” that caused a disturbance on Tuesday night in Charbatapara village, 46 Phulbari assembly constituency.
SP Vivekanand Singh told PTI, “We have arrested 31 people: 16 TMC supporters and 15 NPP workers.
Chief Electoral Officer FR Kharkongor stated that 399 polling stations have been deemed “critical,” while 747 have been identified as “vulnerable.”
119 companies of the central forces would be deployed for the assembly elections, Kharkongor added.
Notably, the election for the 60 members of the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly is slated to take place in Meghalaya on February 27, 2023. The counting of votes will be conducted on March 2. Nominations have been submitted by 379 candidates, including 60 sitting MLAs. FR Kharkongor, the chief electoral officer for Meghalaya, said that 37 women had also submitted their nominations for the state’s 60-member Assembly.
Model Code of Conduct and other adherences in the run-up to #MeghalayaLegislativeAssemblyElections 2023 @DiprMeghalaya @DC_EKH @ceomeghalaya pic.twitter.com/FsOldoSpFc
— MegNIC (@MeghalayaGov) February 6, 2023
Meanwhile, the National People’s Party (NPP) and United Democratic Party (UDP) have received a show-cause notice from the Election Commission of India after it was alleged that their candidates in the West Shillong constituency distributed pressure cookers and bowl sets to voters which goes in violation of the model code of conduct.
