Shillong, Mar 24: Representatives of various Garo Hills-based tribal groups met with Meghalaya Governor CH Vijayashankar over what they felt are anomalies in the rules of the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council (GHADC).
The meeting came a day after the GHADC passed an amendment to mandate that any candidate contesting its elections possess a Scheduled Tribe (ST) certificate. The Governor approved the amendment today.
Speaking after the meeting, Garo Students Union (GSU) president Tengsak Momin said that the Governor was positive on the delegation’s various points, which also included a request to amend Para 12 (a) to prevent, they said, the state government from interfering with the GHADC.
The Governor and the delegation also discussed the issue of a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls before going ahead with the GHADC polls.
Vijayashankar was told that the council’s rules contained a major anomaly in that they permitted the participation of non-tribals in the GHADC elections, which “contradicts the spirit, guidelines and principles of the core purpose of the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution India.”
Allowing non-tribal participation has been coupled with “drastic” demographic change in the plain belt of Garo Hills, which has seen a large increase in the population of non-tribals. Groups like the GSU accuse these settlers of being illegal Bangladeshi migrants.
