By HH Mohrmen
It is said that history repeats itself and the way the present Executive Committee of the Jaintia Hills Autonomous District Council delimited the constituencies in the district is a glaring example of the gerrymander which is being replicated again in the district. The executive member of the Jaintia Hills Autonomous District Council may or may not have heard of the term ‘gerrymander’ but what the EC under the leadership of Madon B Rymbai has done is similar to what had happened in the state of Massachusetts in the United States of America a long time ago.
Wikipedia mentions that the word gerrymander (originally written gerry-mander) was used for the first time in the Boston Gazette on March 26, 1812. The word was created in reaction to a redrawing of Massachusetts state senate election districts under the then-governor Elbridge Gerry (1744–1814). In 1812, Governor Gerry signed a bill that redistricted Massachusetts to benefit his Democratic-Republican Party. When mapped, one of the contorted districts in the Boston area was said to resemble the shape of a salamander. The term was a portmanteau of the governor’s last name and the word salamander. The redistricting was a notable success: in the 1812 election, both the Massachusetts House and governorship were won by Federalists by a comfortable margin (costing Gerry his seat), but the senate remained firmly in Democratic-Republican hands.
Wikipedia also says that the word gerrymander was reprinted numerous times in Federalist newspapers in Massachusetts, New England, and nationwide during the remainder of 1812. Gerrymandering soon began to be used to describe not only the original Massachusetts example, but also other cases of district-shape manipulation for partisan gain in other states. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word’s acceptance was marked by its first publication in a dictionary (1848) and in an encyclopedia (1868). The word gerrymander has become common as a colloquialism in recent years. From time to time, other names are given the “-mander” suffix to tie a particular effort to a particular politician or group. These include “Jerrymander” (a reference to California Governor Jerry Brown), and “Perrymander” (a reference to Texas Governor Rick Perry).
The draft delimitation that is available with the press also exposed the hidden agenda that the present Executive Committee has in the delimitation of the new constituencies. The EC does not give the people the opportunity to participate in this political process; the draft delimitation does not even allow the lone opposition member to give his perspective on the issue. There is no opportunity for people to debate on the delimitation issues as people of the district were not taken into consideration by the JHADC. The delimitation was done in an undemocratic manner as there was no opportunity either for the elected representative or for the civil society to air their views on the very important process. The draft delimitation of the constituencies in the district is yet to be put on a public domain for people to even have the opportunity to inspect the same. The delimitation was done in a hush-hush manner and in a hurry leaving much room for people to suspect that there is something which is not right in the process.
Another very obvious reason which exposes the hidden agenda of the EC and the drafting committee is the non-contiguous nature of the constituencies that are newly created. One case in point is the Jowai Central Constituency which in the new delimitated constituency also includes Ialong which is not in the same territory as the rest of the constituency. The way this particular constituency is being delimited smacks of gerrymandering; it also goes to show that those who are involved in the drafting committee of the new constituency are selfishly abusing their position to create a constituency which will only benefit them. From the way the new Jowai Central constituency is demarcated, which now includes Ialong and Mulang, it should be appropriately named the “Jowai Central-North” and not Jowai Central Constituency.
Understandably the other person who stands to benefit from the delimitation is the Chief Executive Member of the Jaintia Hills Autonomous District Council. In creating the new constituency the CEM got rid of all the areas like Amwi that were not in his favour and now includes only those which he thinks advantages him. The name of the constituency is also changed from Amwi Khliehtyrchi to Khliehtyrchi Sohmynting Constituency. The Constituency of Jowai South was also redrawn in such a way that the incumbent MDC will have a cakewalk in the coming election as only villages which are in his favour are now tagged to the constituency.
The disparity in the number of votes in the various constituencies also indicate that the draft was made in hurry. For instance 6 Khliehriat has a total numbers of 11, 467 voters whereas constituencies like 7 Bataw-Lakadong have only 4,816 voters, 8 Narpuh has 9113 voters whereas 11 Saipung has only 3,809 voters and again 12 Sumer has a total of 4,576 voters. This inconsistency in the number of voters in all the 29 constituencies could have repercussions when the development schemes are distributed because a constituency irrespective of its size and population is entitled to the same amount of MDC schemes and development grants.
People from almost every nook and corner of the district have expressed their opposition to the draft delimitation of the new constituencies in the district. The secretary of the United Democratic Party (UDP) Jaintia hills district unit brought the matter to light and threatened that the party district unit will write to the Governor and the District Council Affairs to register the party’s protest against the Council’s highhandedness. The headman of the Muthlong area met the CEM to register their protest against the Council’s proposed delimitation. There were also protests from other quarters like the village of Tuber etc., against this undemocratic act of the JHADC. Also the Council Chairman hurriedly called the session for which the proposed delimitation was also on the agenda. The peoples’ only hope rests on the Governor and the District Council affairs to give them some semblance of justice that they deserve.
In conclusion Wikipedia also says that from time to time, other names are given the “-mander” suffix to tie a particular effort to a particular politician or group. These include “Jerrymander” (a reference to California Governor Jerry Brown), and “Perrymander” (a reference to Texas Governor Rick Perry). In this case if we are to prefix the name of the present CEM or add the suffix mander to it, then the delimitation initiated by Madon can be called ‘Madonmander’.