Meghalaya Election Officials Push to Finalize Electoral Rolls by August 5

Shillong: Meghalaya election officials are racing to meet a strict deadline. Chief Electoral Officer BDR Tiwari confirmed on July 21 that the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls will finish on schedule. There will be no extensions.

Authorities have pushed out 23,06,605 Enumeration Forms to voters. This covers 98.17 per cent of the state’s 23,49,645 total electors. So far, 14,07,446 forms are digitized, hitting 62.15 per cent completion. House-to-house verification must end by July 29. Missing this cutoff risks exclusion from the draft roll.

West Jaintia Hills, South West Khasi Hills, and South West Garo Hills hit 100 per cent distribution. West Khasi Hills leads digitisation at 79.86 per cent. East Garo Hills and Ri-Bhoi also report near-total distribution coverage.

Officials flagged 53,908 individuals as Absentee, Shifted, Deceased, or Duplicate. This includes 32,382 deceased persons and 13,379 who moved away. Another 5,795 are listed as absent, 2,029 as duplicates, and 323 refused their forms. Tiwari noted these cases follow the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960. He promised, "all ASDD cases will be handled under the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, ensuring proper verification and a hearing for concerned electors before any final decision."

Political parties have deployed 892 Booth Level Agents to assist. Major groups like NPP, UDP, Congress, BJP, VPP, and TMC are involved. Voters can submit forms via the ECINET app or through Booth Level Officers. The state publishes the draft roll on August 5. Claims and objections follow until September 4, with final publication set for October 7.