SHILLONG: The state government on Thursday made it clear that there will be no change in the district council election schedule even as the Union Cabinet has approved the amendments to Article 280 and the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution.
The elections to the KHADC and the JHADC are scheduled for February 27.
Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong on Thursday told reporters that he had a detailed discussion with the Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs on phone soon after the amendments were approved.
Admitting that it will be a lengthy process since the amendments “will have to be approved in both the Houses of Parliament, besides it also requires the assent of the President”, Tynsong said now amendments will take place in anti-defection law and number of seats in the district councils.
“There is a provision that says that once the amendment becomes an act, its implementation can be done in the next house and the existing house of the district council can continue. The scope is that the existing House will continue and when fresh election comes, the new act with its amendments has to be implemented,” he added. The date of the district council polls will be changed “only if there is any direction from the Centre and as of now there is none”, the deputy chief minister informed.
There is a provision in the existing Sixth Schedule to extend the House for six months on two occasions.
When asked about the allegations that the move to amend the Sixth Schedule was to douse the violent protests in the region over the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, Tynsong said the issue should not be politicised unnecessarily and plenty of meetings were held between the stakeholders to discuss the amendments.
Clarification
The report on Union Cabinet published in the January 24 edition erroneously says ‘Sixth Schedule amended’. The Union Cabinet has only approved the changes. The error is regretted.
