Shillong, Feb 9: The All A·chik Youth Federation (AAYF), Central unit, has urged authorities to disqualify non-tribal candidates and prevent non-tribal voters from participating in the upcoming Garo Hills Autonomous District Council (GHADC) elections, asserting that the council is meant exclusively for the protection of tribal interests under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution.
In a press release, AAYF stated that the Garo Hills region falls under Article 244(2) of the Constitution and that the GHADC, established in 1952, was created to safeguard the rights, culture and identity of the Garo tribal community. The federation maintained that allowing non-tribal participation in council elections undermines the constitutional safeguards intended to protect tribal communities.
“We firmly believe that the GHADC is, and must remain, an institution exclusively for the Garo people,” the statement said, adding that allowing non-tribal participation “undermines the very purpose of the Sixth Schedule.”
AAYF has requested the District Election Officer and the Returning Officer of Garo Hills to “disqualify any non-tribal candidate filing a nomination” and to “refrain from issuing voter slips to non-tribal voters for the GHADC elections.”
At the same time, AAYF clarified that it is not opposed to non-tribal participation in State Assembly or Parliamentary elections, noting that those institutions operate under a different constitutional framework.
