SHILLONG: The KHNAM candidate from Jaiaw will get the party symbol of dao, according to the notification of the District Council Affairs Department issued on Monday.
The returning officer will allot symbols to the candidates on Tuesday.
There was a tussle between KHNAM factions led by Adelbert Nongrum and Pyndap Saibon over allotment of symbol to the respective candidates in Jaiaw constituency.
Both Independent candidate Thomas Passah supported by Saibon and Strong Pillar Kharjana of KHNAM faction-led by Adelbert had claimed the dao symbol.
However, the District Council Affairs Department, based on the order of the governor, ruled that out of those two or several candidates, if only one is a candidate set up by an unrecognised political party (KHNAM) and the other is or the rest are independent candidates, the returning officer will allot the symbol to the candidate set up by the unrecognised political party, and to no one else.
The notification further said if two or more candidates are set up by different unrecognised political parties and the rest are independent candidates, the RO will decide by lot to which of the two or more candidates set up by the different unrecognised parties the symbol will be allotted.
The district council affairs wanted the RO to allot the symbol to the candidate on whom the lot falls and to no one else.
Another direction is that “of those two or several candidates, being all independent candidates, the returning officer shall decide by lot to which of those independent candidates that symbol shall be allotted, and allot that symbol to the candidate on whom the lot falls”.
The department said these orders were passed since a situation has arisen and the RO was unable to make a fair and judicious decision in allocation of symbols under sub-rule (4) of Rule 135 of the Assam and Meghalaya Autonomous Districts (Constitution of District Councils) Rules, 1951, as amended in certain cases.
