SHILLONG : Meghalaya Chief Electoral Officer Dr BDR Tiwari on Friday said the state is fully prepared for the conduct of the biennial Rajya Sabha election scheduled for June 18, 2026.
Speaking to reporters after a meeting with political parties in Shillong, Dr Tiwari informed that the election process must be completed before June 20 as the tenure of the sitting Rajya Sabha MP will end on June 21.
“We had a meeting with the political parties with respect to the conduct of biennial Rajya Sabha election in the state of Meghalaya. Since the present tenure of the Rajya Sabha MP is ending on June 21, the election has to be completed before June 20,” he said.
According to the schedule issued by the Election Commission of India, the official notification for the election will be released on June 1. The last date for filing nominations is June 8 while scrutiny of nominations will take place on June 9. Candidates can withdraw their nominations till June 11.
Polling will be held on June 18 from 9 am to 4 pm and counting of votes will begin at 5 pm on the same day.
Dr Tiwari said officials from the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly and the CEO’s office jointly inspected the polling venue on Friday morning and found all arrangements satisfactory as per the norms and guidelines laid down by the Election Commission of India.
He said political parties were briefed in detail about the nomination procedures, including submission of Form 2C, Form 26 affidavit, security deposits, authorisation forms and other mandatory requirements related to election nominations.
Special emphasis was also laid on the Supreme Court’s directions regarding the disclosure and publicity of criminal antecedents of candidates and political parties.
Explaining the voting process, Dr Tiwari said the Rajya Sabha election would be conducted through proportional representation by means of a single transferable vote system under the Representation of the People Act, 1951.
He also reminded party MLAs that they must show their marked ballot paper only to the authorised agent of their own political party during voting. Independent MLAs, however, are not allowed to show their ballot paper to any agent.
Dr Tiwari further stated that the Election Department had briefed political parties on the procedure for recording preferences, validity of ballot papers and the process of counting votes and determining the required quota.
“Our preparation is complete and we are fully ready for the conduct of the biennial Rajya Sabha election in Meghalaya,” he added.
On the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, Dr Tiwari said the election machinery in Meghalaya is already prepared and BLOs will soon begin door-to-door verification work.
He informed that enumeration forms would be distributed to voters and verification would be conducted based on the existing electoral rolls and the 2005 SIR base records.
The CEO also clarified that any Indian citizen above 18 years of age is eligible to be a voter, but can only be enrolled at one place at a time.
Regarding documents required during the SIR process, Dr Tiwari said voters would need EPIC cards and supporting identification documents, including Aadhaar and other approved ID proofs.
He added that training of Booth Level Officers is currently underway to ensure smooth implementation of the voter verification exercise across Meghalaya.