By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: Prominent NGOs of the State including the KSU, FKJGP, HNYF and SSSS have expressed concern over the recent directive of the Election Commission of India to allow migrant workers to enroll themselves as voters in the State.
“The manner of enrolment was done without minimal screening of the antecedent of the applicants. This encourages people with doubtful identity to get themselves enrolled as voters in the State,” FKJGP working president Joe Marwein said in a memorandum submitted to Chief Minister Dr Mukul Sangma on Thursday.
The NGOs argued that easy availability of voters’ enrollment facilities as provided for by the Election Commission in the State will not only change the demographic structure but will also put the security of the State at risk since Meghalaya shares a long stretch of porous border with Bangladesh.
Marwein stated that the State already has a huge population of Nepal citizens and many are still migrating on a daily basis. “This is posing a great danger to the future of the local indigenous population,” he added.
He also alleged that the politics of the Election Commission in being too lenient about the process of voter’s enrollment is systematic and intentional elimination of the tribal population of the State.
“The EC is also colluding with the forces of silent invasion at the cost of the local people of the State. This is also a politics of appeasing the political class which we as concerned NGOs would not tolerate,” he added.