Meghalaya Polls: Independent Candidate Alleges Distribution of Money in Shillong

Despite all the necessary precautions being taken to ensure a smooth voting process in Meghalaya, a state Mahila president of a political party was allegedly involved in distributing money while the voting process was still on in Oakland, Shillong, an independent candidate from North Shillong Michael Kharsyntiew said on Monday.

Kharsyntiew claimed to have rounded the vehicle that was reportedly surrounded by people which was barely 200 metres away from a polling station.

Speaking to the media about the incident, Kharsyntiew said, “There were no police personnel present when we came and chased out all the people those who were clustering around a car owned by State Mahila President of a political party. I also took the video and asked them to go away, and then two to three policemen came from some corner and said that there is no one here. When we showed them the video, the police personnel claimed that they have less manpower.”

Kharsyntiew urged the Election Commission of India to declare the poll taken at the polling station as null and void and conduct fresh poll.

He further alleged that there was one of the election observers inside the polling station whom he approached him to raise a complaint about the presence of a senior BJP leader in front of the polling station. “The person countered me saying so what if the lady is here? He should have made a search as there was a huge gathering around a car. But he didn’t do anything. There were not single police personnel as well,” added Kharsyntiew.

A few minutes later, Voice of the People Party (VPP) candidate Adelbert Nongrum reached the scene to enquire about the situation.

Meanwhile, an incident of proxy voting has been detected at a polling station in Nongthymmai constituency in East Khasi Hills district of Meghalaya on Monday.

The polling station is located at Mizo Modern High School in Nongrim Hills.

The incident came to light after a voter named Bikram Kumar Rai found that someone else by the same name had voted, the matter was taken up by the election officials who assured action of replacing the poll officials.

Accordingly, the officials of the polling booth in Nongthymmai constituency have been replaced after a case of illegal proxy voting was detected there.

A complaint was made to the Chief Electoral Officer, FR Kharkongor, and the East Khasi Hills Deputy Commissioner, SC Sadhu, who is also the District Election Officer, then rushed to the polling station to verify the incident.

Also Read: ‘Proxy Voting’ in Meghalaya, Probe Ordered, Officials Replaced