KHNAM candidate rues absence of home voting for elderly, PwDs

Shillong, Feb 21: KHNAM candidate from Jaiaw Thomas Passah questioned why the government has not extended the provision of allowing physically ill and elderly people to cast their votes from their homes in this council election like it was done in previous elections.
Talking to reporters after casting his votes here on Friday, Passah said that it is important that the voting turnout should be on the higher side adding that it is the responsibility of the state government to improve the voting percentage.
“We will be writing to the District Council Affairs department to ensure that facilities of voting from home for the physically ill and elderly people be available in future district council elections,” he stated.
The KHNAM candidate said that he also found that the voters who had voted during the 2023 Assembly elections were not able to vote in this council election since their names were missing from the voter’s lists.
“It is shocking how the government has prepared the electoral rolls since it is taking away the right to vote of the citizens. We expect to clarify why these lapses have occurred,” he said, interestingly, Passah pointed out that the names of non-Khasi voters are reflected in the electoral rolls.
According to him, this is an indication that the state government is not serious at all in conducting the council elections.
Meanwhile, he said that the fate of whether he will win or lose this election will depend on the support of the electorates of the constituency.
Passah who is the party’s working president said that even if he is the most deserving candidate he cannot win on his own without the support of the electorates.
He stressed that the most important thing is that the interest and identity of the Hynniewtrep community should be protected at all costs as per provisions laid down in the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution irrespective of who wins the election.