Shillong, Jan 8: Meghalaya is waiting for the Union Ministry of Home Affairs’ approval to sanction 107 companies of Central armed police force (CAPF) to be deployed for election duty in the state.
The Assembly elections in Meghalaya may be held next month. The Election Commission may announce dates for conducting the Assembly elections this week.
Meghalaya chief electoral officer, F. R. Kharkongor told reporters here on Monday that the projection for security requirement of the state was made by the state before the Election Commission, and the Commission submitted the proposal before the Union Ministry of Home Affairs recently.
Each company has 100 personnel, and the total number of security personnel in 107 companies is 10,700.
Meghalaya has 3,082 polling stations in 60 Assembly seats.
According to Kharkongor, 536 polling stations have been identified as “vulnerable,†444 polling stations as “critical†and 67 polling booths have been categorized as both “vulnerable and critical.â€
The rest 2,025 polling stations have been considered normal.
He also polling stations that may come under militants’ threat have been identified in some parts of East Garo Hills and South Garo Hills districts.
Stating that security situation is dynamic, Kharkongor said that the situation might change as elections approached, adding that deployment of security would be made in consultation with election observers to be sent by Election Commission.
The total number of voters in Meghalaya would be known after the publication of final electoral roll on January 10.
As on September 27 last year, Meghalaya has registered over 17.68 lakh voters.
