SHILLONG: After the Meghalaya High Court directive on Bangladeshi nationals, the Meghalaya election department said it is yet to study the order.
Earlier, the Opposition UDP had asked the Government to appeal before the Supreme challenging the order.
The Deputy Chief Minister in charge Election and Law, Rowell Lyngdoh recently said that he will ask the Election department to examine the matter.
The Meghalaya High Court had asserted that Bangladeshi nationals who had settled in this North Eastern state before March 24, 1971, should be treated as Indians and have enrolled in the voters’ list.
However, the Meghalaya election department said that it is yet to study the order but for the enrolment into the electoral roll, all the procedures and conditions required has to be fulfilled.
“They have to satisfy other conditions as well like they have to be above 18 years, sound mind etc.”
He stated that the Returning officer of any District has to satisfy himself to ensure that the people who want to enrol in the Electoral roll fulfils all criteria such as date of place and it has to be ascertained if they came to the state prior to 1971.
The judgment of the High Court was based on a petition by over 40 refugees who were originally from Bangladesh, who were denied enrolment in the electoral roll by the district administration citing their citizenship as doubtful.
These refugees hailing from Amjong village near the Assam-Meghalaya border in Meghalaya’s Ri-Bhoi district moved the high court after their citizenship certificates were seized by the deputy commissioner.
On the recent decision of granting the right to exercise their franchise in the Lok Sabha elections to Tibetan community of Shillong, Naik said that the CEO Meghalaya has to follow the directive of the Election Commission of India.
“If we don’t follow it will be a contempt of the court and I don’t have any choice in this case,” Naik said
For the first time, the Tibetan community of Shillong was officially granted the right to exercise their franchise in the Lok Sabha elections following the Election Commission of India’s order to all states to include the names of Tibetans in the respective electoral list.
The EC’s move comes in the wake of a Karnataka High Court order in August 2013, which paved the way for granting Indian citizenship to Tibetan refugees. The EC has mentioned that children of Tibetan refugees born in India between January 26, 1950 and 1987, as mentioned in the Citizenship Act 1955, can no longer be denied enrollment in voters’ list.
Earlier, the pressure groups had strongly opposed the inclusion of the Tibetan community into the electoral rolls of the State. However, Naik said that the NGOs can approach the Court and take legal redressal on the matter since CEO Meghalaya does not have any say in the case.