Govt to follow up case on boycott of GHADC polls

SHILLONG: Opposition legislators from Garo Hills have expressed concern over the delay on the part of the police in taking action against those involved in the boycott of elections to the GHADC even as Home Minister Roshan Warjri assured that the status of the case will be examined.
The Home minister said cases were filed against the leaders of GSU, FKJGP and ADE.        While one case was registered in East Garo Hills, five were registered in West Garo Hills.
During the Question Hour on Thursday, John Leslee Sangma (Independent) pointed out that though the protest was against the participation of non- tribals in the GHADC polls, many indigenous people were not allowed to move out to cast their votes.
He also said that there were allegations that some political parties were behind the boycott of polls.
To a question by Saleng Sangma (Independent), the Home minister said that in three polling stations, no voters turned up to cast votes.
Raising a supplementary question, Nihim D Shira (NPP) pointed out that while the State police was supposed to file charge sheet within three months after the case was registered, there was no follow up actions on the part of the government.
However, the minister assured that the whole matter will be examined by the government.
Earlier, the minister said there was no adverse impact on free and fair conduct of elections though the turn-out was relatively lower at a few polling stations.
While the voting percentage was 79.49 in 2009, it was 68.11 per cent in the 2015 polls.