New Delhi, January 14
The Model Code of Conduct has come into force in Meghalaya, Nagaland and Tripura with the Election Commission today announcing the dates for Assembly elections in the three northeastern states.
Polling will be held in Tripura on February 23, in Meghalaya on March 3 and in Nagaland on March 5.
Announcing the poll schedule for the three states, chief election commissioner N. Gopalaswamy said the terms of Assemblies in Meghalaya, Nagaland and Tripura were due to come to an end on March 10, March 13 and March 19 respectively.
There are 60 Assembly constituencies in each of these states and elections will be conducted on the basis of the electoral rolls revised with January 1, 2008, as the qualifying date.
There are 12,30,152 voters in Meghalaya, 13,00,507 in Nagaland and 20,30,886 in Tripura.
The three northeastern states are among the ten states which are due to face Assembly elections this year. Other states likely to face poll this year include Karnataka, Delhi, Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jammu and Kashmir and Mizoram.
Asked about the Assembly
poll in Karnataka, which is under President’s rule at present, the CEC said electoral rolls in the state would be published on March 10 and the date of poll would be announced after that.
The notification for Assembly elections will be made on January 30 in Tripura and the last date of nominations is February 6 in the state. The scrutiny will take the next day while the last date of withdrawal is February 9.
For Meghalaya, the notification will be issued on February 8 with the last date of nominations is February 15. The withdrawals can take place till February 18.
The notification for the polls in Nagaland will be made on February 9, the last date of nomination is February 16 and withdrawals can take place till February 20. While the counting of votes for Tripura and Meghalaya will take place on March 7, for Nagaland it will take place on March 8.
The CEC said identification of voters at the polling booths shall be mandatory. He said electronic photo-identity cards coverage is more than 99 per cent in Meghalaya and Tripura and 45 per cent in Nagaland.
The commission has already given instructions that no election related official or the police official of the rank of sub inspector and above shall be allowed to continue in his home district. It has said all election related officials, including the police officials, who have completed three years in a district during last four years, should be transferred out of that district.
The state governments have been asked to transfer those officers, against whom the commission has recommended disciplinary action or who have been charged for any lapse during previous poll, from positions entailing election work.
The EC has asked the state governments to ensure that those who stand transferred shall move out physically of their last place of posting and do not remain there on any pretext, including leave.
There are 1,582 polling stations in Meghalaya, 1,586 in Nagaland and 2,372 in Tripura.
The EC has issued detailed guidelines for video coverage of all critical events during the election process and polling at all vulnerable polling booths on the poll day. Digital cameras will also be deployed inside the booths wherever needed.
