Election to Meghalaya’s lone Rajya Sabha seat on June 19

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaJune 1, 2020

Election to the lone Rajya Sabha seat in the state will be held along with other 17 seats across 7 states on June 19.

The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Monday announced that both polling and counting will take place on June 19.  

The other states include Andhra Pradesh (4 seats), Gujarat (4 seats), Jharkhand (2 seats), Madhya Pradesh (3 seats), Manipur (1 seat) and Rajasthan (3 seats).

The elections for the 18 seats from the 7 states were supposed to be held on March 26. However, the polls were postponed due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a statement, the ECI said that polling will start from 9 am to 4 pm while counting of votes will be at 5 pm.

The decision was taken after considering all factors including the guidelines dated 30.05.2020 issued by Union Home Secretary and Chairman, national Executive Committee under the National Disaster Management Act, 2005, and taking into account the inputs obtained from the CEOs concerned.

The ECI has also asked the Chief Secretaries to depute a senior officer from the State to ensure that the extant instructions regarding COVID-19 containment measures are complied with while making arrangements for conducting the elections.

“Further Commission has appointed Chief Electoral Officer concerned as Observer for the election in the respective State,” the statement added.

Meanwhile, the term of the present Rajya Sabha member Wansuk Syiem had ended on April 12.

The BJP-backed Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) government had declared National People’s Party (NPP) state president, Dr Wanwei Roy Kharlukhi as its consensus candidate to Rajya Sabha seat. He will be contesting against Congress nominee and former legislator Kennedy Khyriem.

The NPP, which is leading the MDA  government has 21 members with the support of its partners, the United Democratic Party (UDP) – 7, BJP – 2, People’s Democratic Front (PDF) – 4, Hill State People’s Democratic Party (HSPDP) – 2, National Congress Party (NCP) – 1, Khun Hynniewtrep National Awakening Movement (KHNAM) – 1 and three Independents.