Inflated voters’ roll in Madanrting worries KSU

SHILLONG: The Nongthymmai and Madanrting units of the Khasi Students’ Union (KSU) on Sunday pointed out a sudden spurt in the number of voters in Madanrting as mentioned in the electoral roll.
The union took the list of new enrolments to respective locality heads to verify whether they had recommended the names to the headman.
“We found that there are several names which were not recommended by the locality heads but their names came out in the electoral roll. Only from three blocks, we found that there are 650 names and if we take into account all the blocks, it will cross 1,000,” Richard Mawkhiew, organising secretary of the KSU Nongthymmai circle, told reporters.
Meanwhile, Larem Kharkongor, Rangbah dong of Block D, Pdengshnong, said people from outside the state who seek to stay in Madanrting are asked to produce their voters’ cards and police verification from the SP.
“Usually those from Manipur would tell us that to obtain a voters’ ID in their place is problematic but here in the state (Meghalaya) is easy. This is shameless on our part,” he said, adding, “After pressing them to produce their EPIC, some of them would bring voter ID from Manipur while some get it from Meghalaya.”
Kharkongor said he was not aware how they managed the EPICs and termed it as “a dangerous trend”.
Asked why this eleventh hour wake-up call, Kharkongor said there are seven blocks and to reach a unanimous decision took time.
“We are all busy with our work, we don’t only work for the Shnong but we have other priorities so we waited for the right time when we would be free,” he said.
Mawkhiew condemned the Election Department for not verifying documents before enrolment and said KSU will file an RTI in this regard.
“For enrolment, it is necessary that voters should go through the head of the locality and the headman. We will meet the CEO (chief electoral officer) after the election,” he added.