Shillong, April 7: The Hynniewtrep Border Dispute Redressal Forum (HBDRF) on Thursday requested the intervention of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) FR Kharkongor for inclusion of residents of 43 villages under Block-I area in the electoral rolls of the state.
After the meeting, HBDRF spokesperson Thomas Passah told reporters that inclusion of the 43 villages will ensure individuals staying in these villages can obtain EPIC from their original place of residence.
He said as of now the practice is that the people who are staying in the border area have EPIC but not in their original place of residence but from a village which is very much inside Meghalaya which is a non-disputed village.
“So this might bring a controversy while settling the border dispute. That is why we have requested the CEO to look into this matter. However, from the office of the CEO it is clear that only an individual can be included in the electoral roll by filling up Form-6,” Passah said.
In view of this, he informed that the Forum has decided to go back to these villages and enlighten the people on the need to fill up Form-6 as well as mentioning their original place of residence instead of a fake village.
“(Accordingly we will) let it go through the process of enrolment and will see the next step whether the CEO’s office accept or reject the application,” he added.
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Passah further stated that the objective of the Forum to take up this agenda is to ensure the people do not lose the lands that originally belong to the state of Meghalaya.
He said these villages which do not figure in the electoral rolls are the most deprived in all aspects, be it in terms of health, education and road connectivity adding villagers staying in these areas are deprived of basic human amenities and there is human rights violation.
Stating that the government has always ensured that the EVM machine reaches to the remotes of the places in the whole of the country, Passah said, “We need to ask a question that why not these basic human amenities like medical, schools, road connectivity don’t get there.”
“We hope that when we meet again with the people of these villages, as we will have a meeting soon, we will convey the message that they should enroll in the electoral rolls of the state of Meghalaya, and will see from there on (as) they have expressed their willingness to be in the electoral rolls of Meghalaya,” he added.
When asked, the spokesperson of the Forum said the question is that the person is getting EPIC by falsifying the place of residence. “Maybe a person is staying in a remote area and mentioning Sahsniang is also illegal which means he has got his EPIC by false presentation and I think the ECI will have rules that such things are prevented,” he stated.
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