EC announces 3 state assembly polls schedule; Tripura on Feb 16, Nagaland and Meghalaya on Feb 27

New Delhi: Assembly polls will be held in Tripura on February 16 and in Nagaland and Meghalaya on February 27, with the counting of votes scheduled for March 2, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar announced on Wednesday.While the term of the Nagaland Assembly ends on March 12, the terms of the Meghalaya and Tripura assemblies end on March 15 and March 22 respectively. The three state assemblies have a strength of 60 members each.
he election dates have been fixed keeping in mind the exam season, chief election commissioner Rajiv Kumar said. As CEC addressed the first press meeting of the year announcing the schedule of these three states, he said women’s participation in the voting process has always been high in all these three states.In Tripura, the date of the issue of gazette notification is January 21 and the last date for filing nominations is January 30. The last date for the withdrawal of candidatures is on February 2. In Meghalaya and Nagaland, the gazette notification will be issued on January 31. The date for filing nominations is February 7.
The term of Nagaland, Meghalaya and Tripura assemblies will end on March 12, 15 and 25, respectively. A total of 9,125 polling stations will be there in the three states, which will be 634 more than in 2018. Webcasting will be there in 73% of polling stations. 376 polling stations will be managed by women.
‘Youth apathy in votes’: To fight youth apathy, as witnessed in Himachal and Gujarat state elections, the CEC said young recruits of the Election Commission will be managing several polling booths.
‘Don’t create temporary provisions’: As the election commission ensures 100% availability of all basic infrastructures in all polling booths including electricity and drinking water, Rajiv Kumar said the EC this time requested the state governments to not create temporary infrastructures. “Let these be permanent gifts to the schools — separate toilets for males and females, electricity, ramp for disabled. Budgets are being sanctioned accordingly,” the CEC said.