SHILLONG: The election to the post of Chief Executive Member (CEM) of the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC) could not be conducted on Thursday following the resignation of Chairman KHADC LG Nongsiej. The election will be held the next day.
It was on Wednesday that People’s Democratic Front (PDF) MDC Grace M Kharpuri and NPP MDC HS Shylla filed nomination to the post of CEM from People’s Democratic Alliance (PDA) and Khasi Hills Democratic Alliance (KHDA) respectively.
Shylla informed the media on Thursday that the MDCs received information from Secretariat that the election to the post of CEM will not be conducted on Thursday and the election will be held on the next day.
“The election could not be conducted as the Chairman L.G. Nongsiej resigned. It was at around 10 am, that letter of his resignation was received,” he said.
He added that the office of the Legislative wing of the KHADC faced a hurdle on Thursday on how to conduct the election when the Chairman is not present.
In the ensuing chaos, the Secretary of KHADC from the Legislative wing wrote about the District Council Affairs of the state government.
“From what we heard, the government has appointed pro-tem chairman and caretaker CEM. Pro-tem Chairman will be from amongst the MDCs as the rule states that if there is no Chairman, the Deputy Chairman will take over and if not government will nominate one of the MDCs,” Shylla said.
According to him, the situation in the KHADC was made worse due to the absence of a Deputy Chairman as the leadership under former KHADC CEM PN Syiem created a difficult situation to appoint a Deputy Chairman.