The delimitation committee constituted by the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC) to examine the demand to reorganise constituency boundaries has completed its public hearings.
The chairman of the delimitation committee, Stralwell Kharsyiemlieh, a judge in the district council court, today said, “But our problem now is that we have not got the latest electoral rolls. Through this we can examine the demands made during the public demands and find out the number of voters in those areas.”
The aim of the delimitation committee is to rationalise the number of voters in each of the KHADC constituencies. “As of now, Mawlai has the highest number of voters while Laban-Mawprem has the smallest electorate,” Kharsyiemlieh said.
The committee has the electoral rolls of 15 KHADC constituencies under East Khasi Hills but not those in Sohra civil sub-division, West Khasi Hills, South West Khasi Hills, Eastern West Khasi Hills and Ri-Bhoi.
Kharsyiemlieh said that after the committee gets hold of the electoral rolls they will have to go for spot inspection to check the geographical location of a particular area.
He said that the problem of shifting an area from one constituency to another is confined to only a few constituencies. Giving an example, he said that Lumparing is currently under Malki-Laitumkhrah but residents want this to be included under Laban-Mawprem.
“But we will have to verify this demand first or else the number of voters there (Laban-Mawprem) will be too big. If we get the electoral rolls we will understand how to include such areas,” Kharsyiemlieh said.
When asked if the delay in the delimitation process could affect the announcement of the dates of the KHADC polls, which are scheduled for late February, Kharsyiemlieh declined to comment stating that that subject is not in the committee’s purview.
