Resubelpara: The citizens of North Garo Hills District have been suffering due to forcibly inclusion of their names in the West Garo Hills electoral rolls. Ten villages namely — Takurbilla Garo village, Takurbilla Rabha village, Darugre, Borjhora, Daporpitha, Sarapara, Namapara, Puranipara, Pokirmora and Amtuli have been declared as electoral villages under the Dadenggre civil Sub-division falling under the Rakshamgre Assembly constituency since 2012.
In a move termed as unconstitutional, the process of bifurcation was completed without the knowledge of the concerned citizens of the area. Residents of these villages had been exercising their franchise under the Bajengdoba constituency since the creation of Meghalaya in 1972.
Taking exception to the move, a public meeting was convened recently at Borjhora village which decided to take up the issue with the concerned authorities.
Memoranda were submitted to public representatives and the chief minister in the past but to no avail.
The meeting decided to appeal to the Office of the Raksamgre SDO (Civil) and the deputy commissioner of North Garo Hills before Independence Day.
The meeting also decided that citizens under the ten villages will boycott the 2018 Assembly elections if the State Government failed to heed to their demand.
Residents of the affected villages suspect that the bifurcation was done for certain political gains. “Some vested politicians have manipulated the situation with the bifurcation process that has hurt the sentiments of the people,” said Silchang D Momin, a GSU activist.
