By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, May 16: The KHADC Executive Committee on Thursday said the delimitation committee should complete redrawing the existing 29 constituencies of the council within the extended six-month period.
KHADC Deputy Chief Executive Member, PN Syiem told reporters the committee should complete the task within the specified time even if there are new petitions from the villages which failed to attend the public hearing.
According to him, it will not be proper for the committee to seek another extension.
“Whatever may be the reasons, the committee should submit its report at the earliest,” Syiem categorically stated.
He said the council has again raised the issue of non-receipt of electoral rolls by the delimitation committee with the District Council Affairs (DCA) department.
He said the KHADC Secretary in-charge of the EC has made a fresh request to the DCA department asking it to send an official communication to the respective Deputy Commissioners (DCs) for providing the copies of the electoral rolls to the delimitation committee.
“We were informed that the DCA department has only written to the East Khasi Hills DC. We have again requested that there should be individual communication to all DCs within the council’s jurisdiction for providing the copies of the electoral rolls,” Syiem said.
Earlier, sources in the DCA department said they had written to the East Khasi Hills DC to request the DCs of Ri-Bhoi, South West Khasi Hills, West Khasi Hills and Eastern West Khasi Hills apart from the sub-divisional officer (SDO) of the Sohra Civil Sub Division to provide the copies of the electoral rolls.
The East Khasi Hills DC, who is the nodal officer of the KHADC, wrote to his counterparts on February 20 seeking copies for the delimitation panel.
The sources further said the SDO of the Sohra Civil Sub Division provided the hard and soft copies of the electoral rolls of the Sohra and Shella constituencies to the KHADC secretary on April 22.
A KHADC official reportedly collected copies of the electoral rolls from Mairang without waiting for an official communication from the DC of Eastern West Khasi Hills to the council.
On the other hand, the DCs of Ri-Bhoi and South West Khasi Hills have been reminded of the February 20 letter.
It was also pointed out that the committee is still without the electoral rolls, which were sought since November last year.