After being on the receiving end of allegations of impropriety in the way it conducted its recent elections, the Shillong Club hit back today against Shakti Laitphlang, the original complainant, and the Khasi Students Union, which waded into the matter a few days ago.
An FIR was filed with Sadar police on December 22 by Laitphlang, who stood unsuccessfully in the elections of the previous month. He complained that the polls were blatantly rigged by those in power. In turn he was debarred by the club and a counter FIR was also registered against Laitphlang over threatening behaviour by him towards the administrator of the club.
In the last few days, the KSU expressed its concern over the allegations and other goings-on in the club, such as, it said the control of the board of directors by a small clique of outsiders.
In its rebuttal today, the Shillong Club administrator said that the method of election, via online polling, had been introduced some years ago and no one had complained about the way it was run until Laitphlang did so, painting him as a sore loser.
At no point of time before the elections and till the declaration of the results did Mr Shakti raise any objections as to the conduct of elections or the online voting system which the club had adopted since the past few years, the press release said.
The administrator went on to state that he had been threatened by Laitphlang into disclosing the phone numbers of all the club members before the election. Laitphlang was also accused of deceitfully obtaining the numbers, after being denied them by the club, and flooding members with appeals to vote for him.
One of the points raised by Laitphlang in his original complaint was that the system behind the one time passwords (OTPs) sent to members to enable them to cast their vote, was manipulated to ensure that the sitting directors were re-elected. However, the club has accused Laitphlang of deception in obtaining members OTPs in order to garner votes for himself.
Taking note of these complaints against him, the board filed its own FIR against Laitphlang and suspended him from the club as per the rules pending his reply to a show-cause notice served to him. However, the club said, Laitphlang responded to the show- cause notice with an intimidating reply , though no details were given, and took to the press to malign the conduct of the elections and sought to undermine one of the prestigious
institutions of Shillong which has many illustrious members on its roll.”
It also accused Laitphlang of exploiting a communal angle through his accusations, which has led to "abusive" comments and racial slurs on social media – despite being a mixed body, it was claimed that four non-tribals control the running of the Shillong Club’s board.
The administrator concluded by expressing confidence that the police investigation would vindicate the board and the club’s conduct of the elections.
