Youth Congress hold protest to demand NPP EC resignation
TURA: The opposition Congress alliance in the GHADC have on Friday filed a writ petition before the Meghalaya High Court in Shillong to seek an order for the continuation of the session which was abruptly adjourned sine die by the chairman shortly after the ruling NPP alliance lost the election to the post of deputy chairman.
Though the writ petition has been submitted the court has, so far, not given any date for its hearing.
“We have moved the High Court to demand the continuation of Wednesday’s session in the GHADC because the Chairman had presided over the house in a biased way by adjourning sine die and walking out with the ruling NPP side without taking up the no-confidence motion. He was not neutral in his decisions,” accused opposition candidate and newly elected deputy chairman Mettrinson G Momin.
At the same time, the opposition Congress alliance has stalled the move to petition the Governor for a special session since neither they, nor the ruling NPP alliance, have the two thirds number mandatory to seek a special session.
“In a house of 30 members either side will require 21 members to demand for a special session. As of now the NPP alliance is in a minority whereas we have a simple majority which was revealed during my election. So we are seeking the High Court’s direction to the Chairman of the GHADC to conduct the no-confidence motion which was not taken up as the house was abruptly adjourned,” said Momin.
Meanwhile, members of the Youth Congress staged a protest outside the district council office on Friday carrying banners and shouting slogans demanding the resignation of the Dipul Marak led executive committee in the GHADC.
Accusing the NPP alliance of holding on to power despite being in a minority, Congress members raised slogans condemning the NPP CEM Dipul Marak and his EC calling for their resignations.
“This EC of the NPP has been voted out but there is an absolute and blatant disregard for the democratic process. They brought this upon themselves by their incompetence. There was also an attempt to manipulate the number of votes,” alleged Youth Congress president Richard Marak in a statement.
The Congress has alleged that the NPP alliance, fearing a loss of power, has been subverting the tender process for allocation of the village market haats with the help of some high ranking staff in the GHADC.
“Certain high ranking officials are doing the bidding of the District Council Minister, James Sangma, on the promise of promotions and other benefits thereby allowing Dipul Marak and his EC to break the rules and loot the GHADC,” charged the youth congress president Richard Marak.
As the two sides claim and counter claim majority, all eyes will be on the decision of the High Court when it takes up the writ petition of the opposition Congress alliance, expected to be sometime next week.