SHILLONG, April 21: NPP’s Phulbari MLA, SG Esmatur Mominin on Wednesday asserted that non-tribals have a constitutional right to participate in the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council (GHADC) elections and nobody can snatch that away unless there is an amendment to the Sixth Schedule.
“This is petty politics played by certain people ahead of the GHADC polls but it is a right awarded to non-tribals by the constitution,” Mominin said, while reacting to the spate of protests against the participation of non-tribals in the GHADC polls.
“According to the Sixth Schedule whoever has been residing in the district for 12 years gets the right to exercise their franchise,” the NPP MLA pointed out.
“So until and unless the constitution is amended nobody should create problems,” he added.
Several pressure groups from Garo Hills region had staged protests against participation of non-tribals in the run up to the GHADC elections. They had questioned how non-tribals can partake in an election to an autonomous body, which is meant solely to safeguard the interests of the tribal communities.
