NEWS
ANALYSIS
SPECIALS
INTERVIEW
CAMPAIGN TRAIL
CONSTITUENCY
ISSUES
GALLERY
MANIFESTOS
INDIA SPEAKS!
COUNTDOWN
CHAT
PREVIOUS RESULTS
SCHEDULE
DISCUSSION GROUP

Rampaging elephants create a scare in Sangma's constituency

The election authorities in Meghalaya have declared 12 polling booths as ''sensitive'' not on account of militants but due to elephants stomping in at inopportune moments.

Incidentally, Tura constituency is where the Nationalist Congress Party general secretary Purno A Sangma is seeking election for the seventh consecutive time on September 25.

The forest department in the West Garo Hills district has been asked to take measures to prevent the pachyderms from disrupting the voting.

Meghalaya chief secretary J P Singh said that the district administration had been asked to keep a strict vigil in West Garo Hills' Danenggiri area, prone to rampage by elephant herds.

Tamed elephants would be utilised by the forest department to chase away wild ones, deputy commissioner Pankaj Jain said adding ''we are prepared for any emergency.''

About 150 National Cadet Corps cadets armed with lathis would be deployed at ''safe polling booths'' --- particularly in Shillong, Tura town and Jowai --- on polling day so that the security forces can concentrate on sensitive zones more effectively, Singh, who arrived in Tura on a visit, said.

The authorities are also worried about possible flash floods that could disrupt the polls. ''We plan to despatch polling personnel in advance, besides requisitioning country boats for use in such eventuality,'' Jain said.

The administration would also deploy more forces in anticipation of group clashes in areas like Tikrikila, Tura, Rajabala, Ampati and Mahendraganj.

UNI

Tell us what you think of this report