The State government has decided to extend the term of the present House of the two Autonomous District Councils in Khasi Hills and Jaiñtia Hills by another six months.
According to sources, the District Council Affairs Department has examined the two delimitation bills passed by the KHADC and JHADC and has decided that more time was required to prepare the modalities for holding of the elections to the two District Councils.
“The State government has decided to extend the term of the KHADC and JHADC by another six months under the provisions as per Sub Para 6 A of Paragraph 2 of the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution and Sub Rule 1 of Rule 7 of the Assam and Meghalaya Autonomous Districts (Constitution of District Council) Rules 1951,” sources said today.
The extension of the term of the two District Councils will be effective from September 5, 2024 to March 5, 2025.
It may be mentioned that the State government had first extended the term of KHADC and JHADC by six months from March 5, 2024 in order to enable the councils to carry out delimitation of their constituencies.
The delimitation exercise has been completed and the two District Councils have also passed their respective delimitation bills regarding adjustments of villages and voters in their respective constituencies.
The delimitation bills have been sent to the District Council Affairs Department for examination which later forwarded the same to the Law Department for further examination.
After the bills were cleared by the Law Department, they would be sent to the Governor for his final assent.
However, the extension of the terms of the KHADC and JHADC has received strong objections from the public who felt that this was an attempt by the current ruling dispensation to delay elections for its own political benefits.
