Guwahati: Despite all the necessary measures being taken to guarantee a smooth voting process in Meghalaya, an independent candidate from North Shillong named Michael Kharsyntiew claimed on Monday that a state Mahila president of a political party was allegedly involved in money distribution while the voting process was still taking place in Oakland, Shillong.
Kharsyntiew asserted to have circled the vehicle, which was allegedly encircled by onlookers.
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 that the Election Commission declare the poll at the polling station as invalid because there was a large crowd present when voting was taking place there. That polling station was at least 200 metres away from the scene of the event.
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.
Adelbert Nongrum, a candidate for the Voice of the People Party (VPP), arrived on the scene a short while later to find out what was going on.
Proxy voting was detected at a polling location in Meghalaya’s Nongthymmai constituency’s East Khasi Hills district on Monday.
The polling station is located at Mizo Modern High School in Nongrim Hills.
Once a voter by the name of Bikram Kumar Rai discovered that someone else with the same name had voted, the problem was brought to the attention of the election officials, who promised to take action by replacing the poll workers.
The polling station staff in the Nongthymmai seat has been removed as a result of a case of illicit proxy voting being found there.
A complaint was made to the Chief Electoral Officer, FR Kharkongor, and the District Election Officer and Deputy Commissioner for the East Khasi Hills, SC Sadhu, hurried to the polling place to confirm the incidence.