By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: GNLA chairman Champion Sangma’s decision to contest the State Assembly election would not have materialized even if he would have filed his nomination papers, since he had been dismissed from Government service.
The Returning Officer can reject the nomination papers of a candidate who has been dismissed from Government service as per the Representation Of Peoples Act, 1951.
The East Garo Hills district administration had already prepared the ground works to reject Champion’s nomination papers, had he filed the same.
According to an official source, the Representation Of The Peoples Act, 1951, Para 9 mentions that ‘a person who having held an office under the Government of India or under the Government of any State has been dismissed for corruption or for disloyalty to the State shall be disqualified’.
It was in August 2010 that Sangma was dismissed from service for deserting the police and forming GNLA.
Earlier, Champion’s lawyer Sujit Dey had claimed that the rebel leader was keen to contest the Assembly poll and he was eligible since he was yet to be convicted.
Recently, the district administrations of both East and West Garo Hills had booked the rebel leader under the Meghalaya Preventive Detention Act (MPDA).
However, the MPDA does not prevent anyone from contesting the elections.
