The Shillong Times - Established 1945

SHILLONG, Dec 1: AITC State president and former Speaker, Charles Pyngrope appeared unfazed by the move to disqualify the 12 legislators who “merged” with Mamata Banerjee-led party and the legal experts’ views on the matter. When this reporter approached him on Wednesday, he exuded confidence of winning the legal battle saying that “I know the rules and I have studied the tenth schedule very carefully”. He overruled the legal interpretations by “experts” saying that the law “clearly indicates that if any political party…

NEW DELHI, Dec 1: Noted constitutional experts are unanimous that it is the Speaker of the Legislature who alone holds the key to the issue of application of anti-defection law to 12 others MLAs who left Congress and joined AITC recently. Famous constitutional lawyer and former Secretary General of Lok Sabha PDT Achary when contacted on Wednesday commented that the speaker has to take a call, if he is satisfied, against the MLAs, under anti-defection law. If aggrieved by speaker’s ruling, the MLAs can approach the court…

SHILLONG/New Delhi, Dec 1: MPCC working president James S Lyngdoh on Wednesday resigned from Congress, the party he served for 33 years, along with former general secretary Manash Das Gupta. Congress, however, said he was removed on November 29 due to anti-party activities. Speaking to media persons after submitting his resignation, Lyngdoh said he took the decision as state Congress president Vincent H Pala had sidelined him and stripped him of all his responsibilities. “I never faced any problem with the past MPCC…

SHILLONG, Dec 1: The assurance of Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo, Mamata Banerjee to give autonomy to the leaders of Meghalaya to take decisions was the factor that prompted the 12 MLAs to quit Congress and join the West Bengal-origin party, one of these legislators said. “All of us were tired with the attitude of the Congress high command,” he said on condition of anonymity. “Congress did not give us autonomy. It remote-controlled everything from Delhi,” the MLA said. “We had unanimously proposed the name of Charles…

SHILLONG, Dec 1: United Democratic Party leader and Home Minister Lahkmen Rymbui on Wednesday said the entry of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) was not a good development for the state but hoped it would translate into more seats for the regional parties in the 2023 Assembly elections. He said the merger of 12 Congress MLAs with the TMC was not good particularly for the Garo Hills region, but the Khasi-Jaintia Hills have a choice of regional parties besides the established national parties. Maintaining that it is too early…

SHILLONG, Dec 1: The state Assembly on Wednesday issued notices to 10 of the 12 former Congress MLAs, who defected to the Trinamool Congress, asking them to reply to the petition filed by the grand old party seeking their disqualification under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution (anti-defection law). The MLAs have been given seven days’ time to send their replies. In the notice sent to Mukul Sangma, Assembly commissioner & secretary wrote: “After careful examination of the petition, the Speaker has directed that…

~ In August 1989, the then Speaker of the House, Peter Marbaniang disqualified Lekinson Sangma for violating the party whip. He was an MLA of Hills People Union. ~ On August 7, 1991 when the then Speaker of Meghalaya Legislative Assembly, PR Kyndiah disqualified five independent MLAs. An interim order was issued by the speaker for the suspension of voting rights of the five MLAs and they were asked to submit their clarification before giving their ruling. Later, on August 17, Kyndiah issued the disqualification order…