Shutdown called in Meghalaya over dubious voters

Shillong - Continuing to mount pressure on the Meghalaya government over the enrolment of dubious voters, three powerful organisations Wednesday announced a 12-hour shutdown May 14 in four districts in eastern part of the state.

The Khasi Students’ Union, the Federation of Khasi, Jaintia and Garo People and the Hynniewtrep National Youth Front have demanded immediate suspension of enrolment of voters and closure of special counters for registering prospective voters in the deputy commissioners' office.

The organisations have also alleged that numerous migrants have been enrolled in the voters' list without a thorough verification of their antecedents.

“We have been forced to call a 12-hour total shutdown on Monday (May 14) from 5 a.m to 5 p.m to press the government to fulfil our demands,” HNYF Spokesman Sadon Blah told IANS.

National Highways No.40 and 44, the lifelines for landlocked Mizoram, Tripura and parts of Manipur and southern Assam, are likely to be affected by the shutdown.

Though, Chief Minister Mukul Sangma had convened an all-party meeting to discuss our demands, Blah said the political parties, however, failed to take a decision on their demands.

“If the government fails to comply with our genuine demands, we have no other option but to intensify with our agitational programmes,” Blah said.

On Tuesday, cutting across party lines, political leaders decided to constitute an all-party committee to examine certain clauses of the Election Commission’s (EC) voter enrolment guidelines without infringing the Constitutional body’s mandate.

“An all party committee would formulate friendly and effective voters enrolment guidelines for the State. The amended version would then be sent to the EC for approval,” Chief Minister Mukul Sangma said.

The organisations have also alleged that numerous migrants have been enrolled in the voters’ list without a thorough verification of their antecedents.

However, the state government has been maintaining that the enrolment has been done as per the guidelines issued by the Election Commission of India.