By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Dec 17: The Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC) and the Jaintia Hills Autonomous District Council (JHADC) will go to polls on February 21 in what is billing up to be a high-voltage election.
“The date of polling will be February 21 and the results will be declared on February 24,” Deputy Chief Minister in charge of District Council Affairs (DCA), Prestone Tynsong announced on Tuesday.
“Accordingly, the model code of conduct (MCC) will come into force from January 27 in the districts falling under the jurisdiction of the KHADC and JHADC,” he said.
The funds for the election to the two autonomous district councils will be deducted from the shares payable to the KHADC and JHADC by the state government.
The notification for the ADC elections will be issued on January 27 while the last date of filing of nominations will be February 3. The scrutiny of nomination papers will be done the same day while the last date for withdrawal of nominations is February 4.
The date of publication of the draft electoral rolls is January 13 and the last date of filing of claims and objections is January 22. Claims, if any, will be disposed of by January 24 while the final publication of electoral rolls will be done on January 27.
Last week, the State Cabinet had approved the schedule for elections to the two councils.
Chief Minister Conrad Sangma had refused to explain the details then, saying those cannot be disclosed until they are approved and ratified by the Governor.
A major talking point about the upcoming polls is the withdrawal of support by the three Congress MDCs to the NPP-led Executive Committee and Khasi Hills Democratic Forum, thereby bringing an end to the bonhomie between the two parties in the KHADC.
The Congress was part of the EC since June last year after the collapse of the UDP-led EC.
The MDCs are PN Syiem who was the Deputy Chief Executive Member, Ronnie V Lyngdoh who is also an MLA, and Victor Rani who joined the Congress after leaving the NPP recently.