Meghalaya Assembly Election 2018: 18.4 lakh voters to decide fate of 370 candidates

Shillong: Meghalaya is all set to go to polls on Tuesday morning. Voting will be held in 59 constituencies between 7 am and 4 pm. 

The results of the polls will be declared, along with that of Nagaland and Tripura, on March 3.

In Meghalaya, the election has been countermanded in Williamnagar in the wake of the killing of NCP candidate Jonathone N Sangma in an IED blast in East Garo Hills district on February 18.

A high-decibel campaign for the polls in Meghalaya came to an end on Sunday evening.

The chief contest for the 60-member house is between BJP and Congress. 

Congress has been in power in the state for the last 10 years. The BJP is leaving no stone unturned to throw the Congress out of power and add Meghalaya into its kitty.

The Congress has fielded 59 candidates, while BJP 47 candidates.

Though they are contesting the polls separately, in Meghalaya, the National People's Party (NPP) of Conrad Sangma, son of former Lok Sabha speaker P A Sangma, is the BJP's partner in the North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA).

A total of 370 candidates in the fray in Meghalaya. Nearly 18.4 lakh voters will exercise their franchise in 3,083 polling stations in the state.

Meghalaya's Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) F R Kharkongor said for the first time, 67 all-women polling stations and 61 model polling stations were set up in the state.

He added that 32 women candidates were in the fray, the highest ever in the state.