Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma leaves after filing nomination papers for the by-election at South Tu... Read More

SHILLONG: Faced with the challenges of a difficult terrain, heavy rainfall and lack of mobile connectivity while conducting polls in the remote areas of the northeast , the Meghalaya election department has engaged 10 long distance 'runners' to act as links to polling stations in the Ranikor constituency on Thursday.

Besides Ranikor, which is located close to the India-Bangladesh border, byelection will be held to the South Tura assembly seat, from where CM Conrad Sangma will contest to retain his position.

"Ten runners from villages in the Ranikor constituency, which has made a name for its long-distance runners, have been engaged to carry messages to and from the district election office and far-flung polling stations," chief electoral officer FR Kharkongor said.

The runners will make four pre-scheduled rounds. The first will be around 9am, starting from remote polling stations, to report to the election officer if the polling process has begun and if there is any emergency situation. The next round will begin around 11am, when runners will report to the election office on the polling trends and turnout. The same will be done again at 1pm and, finally, at 4pm.

"Metal topping on roads leading to some of the polling stations have been washed away completely by heavy rainfall. Mobile networks also barely function," Isawanda Laloo, deputy commissioner of South West Khasi Hills and district election officer, said.

She added that some polling stations are located more than 20km from the district headquarters. "With no other connectivity option, it would take at least three hours for a person to walk. The runners have been engaged to ensure the election process goes off without any glitch," she added.

The Ranikor constituency has 65 polling stations and 29,685 voters. The seat fell vacant after Congress's MM Danggo resigned from the party and chose to contest the seat again on an NPP ticket.

