KHADC pass final delimitation bill

Shillong, December 14: The Khasi Hills Autonomous District (Constitution of District Councils) (Amendment) Rules, 2013 seeking delimitation of constituencies for the upcoming 2014 polls was passed by the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC) during the ‘Special Session’ on Saturday despite protests from the opposition bench.

Earlier, before passing the Delimitation Bill, an enraged MDC Carmel Sohtun “tore” the copy of the report of the Delimitation Committee constituted by the Executive Committee on the KHADC (Constitution of District Councils) (Amendment) Rules, 2013 as a mark of protest.

Under the delimitation bill, the KHADC wanted to rearrange its constituencies mainly to facilitate the creation of Umsning constituency in Ri Bhoi district by merging two existing constituencies – Laitkhroh and Lyngkyrdem into one constituency.

Before tearing the Bill, Sohtun whose Laitkhroh constituency stands to be deleted in the new delimitation bill said, “I demand the House to put on hold the passing of the Bill since it is against the wish of the people of the constituency and besides the Bill was passed in a hasty manner which is not acceptable. Since day one and till today, I would continue to oppose the Bill till the end.”

Sohtun who recently joined the Khun Hynniewtrep National Awakening Movement (KHNAM) has also got party ticket to contest from Laitkhroh constituency.

However, the protests by the four MDCs of the KHNAM does not hold any water, as over 20 MDCs from Congress, United Democratic Party (UDP) and Hill State People Democratic Party (HSPDP) has signed in support of the Bill.

“We would re-submit the Bill to the state government for its approval on Monday next,” KHADC Chief Pynshngainlang Syiem said.

Earlier, on July 5 this year, the Bill was passed by the KHADC which then was also submitted to the Governor for obtaining the approval. However, in the month of October, the Bill was sent back to the KHADC by the Governor who had also advised the council to carry out the delimitation exercise by constituting a delimitation committee.

Subsequently, the EC constituted the delimitation committee headed by District Council Court’s judge S Kharsyiemlieh to facilitate and conduct public hearings on the delimitation bill in the four districts falling under the jurisdiction of the KHADC. The report was submitted by delimitation committee to the executive committee, Syiem informed the house..

Besides, Carmel, all the KHNAM MDCs including Adelbert Nongrum, James Ban Basaiawmoit and Latiplang Kharkongor have also opposed the bill and the manner in which the Special Session was called alleging that there were no official communications made on the matter except message sent via SMSes. They said even the agendas was not made known to the members for which the purpose the session is convened.

“The notice for convening the special session was sent hurriedly without detailing the agenda. The report of the delimitation should have been provided to the members. However it was only made available just few hours before the session,” Nongrum said adding “We strongly opposed against this dictatorship attitude of the Executive Committee of KHADC.”

Sohtun said, “Why was a special session needed to be convene on a holiday and informed the members simply through  smses which is totally unethical and unacceptable.”

They further demanded that Bill should be put on hold considering the fact that there are still many lacunae and other discrepancies despite the fact that the delimitation committee was formed. They also demanded that the Bill should be ‘referred back’ to the Delimitation Committee for further tuning.

Expressing dissatisfaction on the way the public hearing was conducted, Basaiawmoit questioned as to why the public hearing for East Khasi Hills District which has over 18 constituencies was conducted only for five hours.

Replying to this, Syiem said it depends on the wisdom of the delimitation committee to convene the public hearings and that the committee has done an excellent job. He further clarified that the public hearings were conducted based on district wise.

On the demand to refer back the Bill, Syiem said, “We have called for this special session to also take all the views and opinions of the members with regards to making the necessary corrections in  the Bill.”

Syiem also informed that the office of the legislative wing of the council had sent the official notice regarding the special session to the members on December 12.- By Our Reporter