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In Pictures: Meghalaya goes to polls

People in Meghalaya vote along with states of Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Nagaland in second phase of India polls.

Women stand in queue to cast their vote in Meghalaya state, as the second round of India elections started at 7am on Wednesday.
By Bijoyeta Das
Published On 9 Apr 2014

People in northeastern Indian state of Meghalaya have voted in the second phase of parliamentary elections along with neighbouring states of Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Nagaland.

The ruling Congress party, the main oppostion Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), regional party United Democratic Party, National People’s Party and independents are fighting it out for the two Lok Sabha or House of the people seats.

In Meghalaya, which had seen high turnout in the recent polls, enthusiasm is low for the current Lok Sabha elections.

“I have never seen the candidates, I will vote for the person suggested by local MLA,” says Laokhwan La, whose village of 500 people is in East Khasi Hills.

Donny Malcolm Wallang, additional district commissioner, Shillong said they had employed “dynamic methods” to attract young voters to ensure maximum participation.

Activities included flying clubs, essay, drawing, debate, quiz contests, graffiti, competitions in art, dancing, singing, slogan writing, on-air-air jingles contest, and “Run for Democracy Marathon”.

Though a matrilineal society, where women enjoy greater social and economic privilege, political power still eludes them.

Meghalaya, located in northeast, is one of the most picturesque places in the country.
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A woman walks towards a polling station in Massar village in East Khasi Hills, which has 250 registered voters.
A woman shows her finger, marked with indelible ink to guard against voter fraud.
In the last Lok Sabha elections, Meghalaya had 64.38 voter turnouts.
People wait in the line to cast their vote in Shillong, the capital of Meghalaya.
Thousands of election officials have been deployed to monitor the polls.
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The election commission has warned that if voters tried to remove the election ink through any chemical concoction they might end up with burned fingers.
People line up to vote at the polling station at Wakken village which has 850 registered voters. Till mid day more women than men had cast their votes.
A mother and child wearing caps of BJP prime-ministerial candidate Narendra Modi. 
For the first time voters are given the option to select none. 
A man smokes a hand-rolled cigarette after casting his ballot. Posters encouraging people to vote are seen in the background. 
Shashi Gulati, an election observer at a polling station in Smit village, seen interacting with a voter.
A woman shows her voter’s ID card.
Police Bazaar, the busiest part of Shillong wears a deserted look on account of a 12-hour bandh called by a banned Khasi separatist group.