The Garo Hills Autonomous District Council Executive Committee (EC) led by CEM Benedic Marak was defeated after his group lost the confidence of the House today.
The no-confidence was moved against Marak, who is also the NPP MDC and MLA of Raksamgre, by his fellow party MDCs.
The CEM got only 13 votes while the NPP got 15 excluding the chairman.
As the EC stands dissolve, the election for the CEM scheduled for January 31. Sources said, GHADC Chairman Rakesh A. Sangma has resigned from his post to contest while Benedic too will once again fight for the post with the support of the opposition Trinamool Congress and two BJP MDCs.
As many as nine EC members had earlier resigned while the CEM himself removed three chairpersons from various positions within the GHADC. He also appointed three MDCs from the opposition, AITC into the positions from which the chairpersons were removed.
It may be mentioned that Marak had received criticism from the Chief Minister in the past for using tied funds from the central government to pay pending salaries of GHADC staff, a move that could threaten future funding from the Centre. His party members felt that the state would have paid the salaries if approached by Benedic, from their share of royalty.
On the other hand, Marak had also accused the state government of not allowing the GHADC a clear hand in approaching the Centre in an effort to get funding for the Council.
Meanwhile the NPP MDCs accused the former CEM of damaging the party and its image and also cited his ego in not meeting with the Chief Minister for solutions to the problems being faced in the GHADC.
