By Our Reporter
Shillong: Chief Minister Dr Mukul Sangma said the Government would not hesitate to take stringent action against people who enroll themselves as voters through unfair means.
“I will issue a directive to enquire if there are people who have managed to register themselves in the voters list of the State by cheating or manipulation of documents. “I don’t think it would be a difficult task to detect if there are people with dubious identities who have been enrolled,” Dr Sangma said while speaking to reporters after holding a high-level meeting to assess the law and order situation in the State here on Wednesday.
The Chief Minister said that Government would take action against such people as per the provisions of the law.
“At present there are very slim chances that people with doubtful antecedents would manage to get themselves enrolled as voters since the Election Commission has come up with stringent rules and modalities,” Dr Mukul said, adding, “In the past, we are aware of cases of people with dubious identities getting themselves enrolled as voters since the rules were not that stringent. We are also aware how people managed to have their names enrolled in two or three places”.
He however said that it is important to have complete clarity on the modalities adopted by the EC on the enrollment of names in the electoral rolls.
‘Before enrollment the person has to prove that he is a genuine Indian citizen by submitting authenticated documents” the Chief Minister said.
When asked about the problem in identifying the Nepalese of Indian origin and those who are citizens of Nepal, he admitted that it would be difficult to differentiate these two categories of Nepalese during the enrollment process.
‘It is because of this reason that the Government is asking for amendment of certain provisions of the Indo-Nepal Treaty, 1950. I have been earnestly pursuing this matter with the Centre,” Dr Mukul said.
Meanwhile, he informed that he had asked Home Minister HDR Lyngdoh to initiate a dialogue with the NGOs to end the stalemate.
“I feel that the NGOs should bring to the notice of the Election authorities specific cases of people with doubtful identity who manage to enroll themselves in the voters list. We will definitely take action if there are such specific complaints” the Chief Minister said.
To ensure a system of checks and balances in the process of enrollment in the voters list, Dr Sangma said he would ask the Chief Electoral Officer to have a complete monitoring system on the people who come to register themselves as voters.
Meanwhile, Dr Mukul Sangma made it clear that the Government cannot be a silent spectator if there is a constant attempt on the part of the NGOs to take the law into their hands.
“The Government would be forced to take stringent action against those culprits who disrupt the law and order, as per the rule of law,” the Chief Minister.
