The Voice of the People Party (VPP) has written to the Chief Secretary and District Council Affairs Department to complain about what it describes as irregularities in the conduct of the election to the Jaintia Hills Autonomous District Council (JHADC) in February and to call for an inquiry into the process.
The VPP won eight seats in the JHADC polls and finished second behind the ruling National People’s Party (NPP), which held on to power in the council. In the corresponding KHADC election, the VPP swept to an absolute majority. The NPP has dismissed complaints of unfair practices in the JHADC election.
In a letter dated April 11 but shared with the media today, the VPP general secretary, Ricky Syngkon MLA, said that, based on prior inputs, the party had identified several polling stations within certain JHADC constituencies as sensitive and highly sensitive. In order to ensure a free, fair and peaceful election process, the party had requested the District Election Officers of West Jaintia Hills and East Jaintia Hills to make adequate security arrangements. This request was to prevent any attempts to intimidate voters, booth capture, or any activity that could potentially disrupt the electoral process, Syngkon, said.
However, despite this plea, the DEOs did not take “sufficient preventive action”. As a result, the VPP added, on voting day there were several instances of “booth capturing and booth rigging” and that polling officials were helpless in the absence of adequate security.
Syngkon pointed to specific instances of vandalism in polling stations, which led to repolling the next day in four polling stations.
Further compounding the situation, “the election agents of the Voice of the People Party were not allowed to enter the polling stations by musclemen of the other contesting parties, thereby effectively preventing VPP representatives from observing or reporting on the process,” he added.
This “breakdown” in the democratic process raises questions about the validity of the election results, in the VPP’s eyes. It thus called for an independent and time-bound inquiry into the “entire sequence of events leading up to and during the polling” on the original polling day in the four disturbed polling stations of Wapung Skur A and B, Bataw A and B, as well as other incidents in other polling stations and “as to why no steps were taken to provide adequate security to ensure conduct of free and fair elections in the two Jaintia Hills districts”.
Syngkon wants those responsible to be held accountable and an assurance that future elections will be held in a free, fair and secure environment for all citizens and parties.
