By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Feb 28: The High Court of Meghalaya on Wednesday granted another two weeks to the KHADC to file objections to the maintainability of the writ petition contesting the constitution of the delimitation committee.
The court stated in the order that V.G.K. Kynta, the KHADC’s counsel, assisted by C. Nongkhlaw, had prayed for and was allowed the extra time.
The state government will file its reply in this regard through Advocate General Amit Kumar within a week.
The court will now hear the matter on March 13.
KHADC Deputy Chief Executive Member, Pynshngain N. Syiem said the delimitation committee constituted by the Governor to redraw the 29 constituencies of the council has been on the job.
He told reporters that the delimitation committee will try its best to complete the exercise within six months.
The state Cabinet on February 2 approved the extension of the current terms of the KHADC and JHADC for six months due to the delimitation exercise.
The terms of these two councils were set to expire on March 4. The councils had appealed for the extension as part of the process of redrawing the constituency boundaries.
In October 2023, the Governor granted both councils permission to constitute their delimitation committees. Their work is continuing.
Meanwhile, sources said the delimitation committee has not been able to aggressively start its work since it is waiting for the latest electoral rolls from a few districts.
They said the committee will start the verification exercise of the villages and localities that sought to be voters in constituencies different from the ones they currently vote in.
Earlier, delimitation committee chairman Starwell Kharsyiemlieh said the villagers and localities concerned can be realigned only after the electoral rolls are finalised.
“We need to remind the people that the exercise is being carried out due to the request received from them,” he stated.
He also said the committee will need to be sure whether the request made by the localities and villages is justified before preparing its report.