Shillong: The full bench of the Election Commission led by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar would be on a two-day visit to poll-bound Meghalaya from January 12 to oversee poll preparation for the upcoming assembly elections, due in February 2023, an election official said on Friday.
“The CEC accompanied by Election Commissioners — Anup Chandra Pandey and Arun Goel — will be arriving in Shillong on January 12 after reviewing the poll preparedness in poll-bound Tripura,” State Chief Electoral Officer Frederick Roy Kharkongor told UNI.
The Election Commission officials will be reviewing poll preparedness and hold a series of meetings with the Chief Election Officer, state Chief Secretary Donald Philips Wahlang, Director General of Police L.R.BIshnoi and senior government officials.
Kumar will hold a meeting with district election officers, superintendents of police, enforcement directorate and Income Tax officials.
The CEC will also interact with representatives of various political parties. He will also interact with the media, before concluding the visit.
A committee of the Election Commission of India on expenditure had visited Meghalaya on December 15 and 16 and held a meeting with the state government election machinery and various government agencies which include Income Tax, Narcotics Bureau, Reserve Bank of India and the State police.
The term of the present Meghalaya Assembly is from March 16, 2018 to March 15, 2023 and as such, the new government has to be sworn in before that.
The government was installed on March 6, 2018 with the swearing in of Conrad K Sangma as the Chief Minister of the National People’s Party (NPP)-led Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) government.
The MDA government was formed by six political parties – NPP, United Democratic Party (UDP), People’s Democratic Front (PDF), Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Hill State People’s Democratic Party (HSPDP), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), besides Independent legislators.
