This had brought about apprehensions that personsof dubious backgrounds such as illegal immigrants from neighbouring countries such as Bangladesh would take undue advantage to register themselves as voters.

Non – governmental organisations, social and student bodies had then protested against this type of enrolment according to the provisions laid down by the Election Commission as they do not comply with the existing ground realities and would make it difficult to check dubious voters besides people who enroll themselves in their respective states of origin and also Meghalaya. It is also known that dual enrolment also takes place within the state itself as it was found that people belonging to a rural constituency would again enroll themselves in the urban voters list such as in the capital city of Shillong. All these complexities would therefore create further problems in which the voters list can not give a true picture of the actual number of voters in the whole state and that the figures would be exaggerated thus defeating the very purpose of a free and fail election.

The fear expressed was that once a dubious person is able to sneak into the voters list, it becomes a passport for such a person to claim permanent citizenship of not only the state but also of the country itself and such persons can further claim the rights and privileges to carry out trade, business activities and other interests at the cost of genuine people of the state and especially the indigenous people. In order to allay the fears of such a situation, the government had then announced to rename the enrolment counters as ‘felicitation centres’. However, it was pointed out that care had not been taken in taking proper steps in identifying and screening of people enrolling themselves in such counters and centres and in the process, cases of dubious persons enrolling themselves as voters were detected.

The protesting organisations had demanded for closure of these counters and centres and to back up their demands, had organised agitations such as road blockades and bandhs which had threatened the law and order situation as several government vehicles were torched and normal life was disturbed in the state capital and other parts of the state. Security measures were however tightened to contain the spread of violence.

In reaction to the protests, the state government had then set up what is said to be a dedicated helpline or a complaint line in all the districts and sub divisional headquarters under the Electoral Rolls Management System. This was aimed at sensitizing people on the various issues pertaining to enrollment under a programme named the Systematic Voters Education and Electoral Participation Programme to assist the people in all matters of querries, complaints related to the electoral rolls.

Persons of dubious backgrounds such as illegal immigrants from neighbouring countries such as Bangladesh would take undue advantage to register themselves as voters.

All the while, the political parties in the state took to the stand of a wait and watch policy. However, seeing the mood of the people and the growing public opinion against the new system of enrolment, the United Democratic Party, being the largest regional party and coalition partner of the Congress led Meghalaya United Alliance government took a step forward in thrashing out the issue in an all party meeting so as to allay the fears and defuse the situation of growing unrest. Other political parties towed the idea thrown down by the UDP and even the Congress party lined itself up for an all party meeting as no political party at this crucial stage wants to be dubbed as anti – people especially when the general elections of 2013 are just around the corner. It is a time when the political parties need to be in the good books of the people.

The Chief Minister of the state Dr. Mukul Sangma sensing the mood of the people as reflected in the different political parties had been able to convince the protesting organisations to suspend their agitation in the backdrop that the process of the present system of enrolment is kept in abeyance and that the leaders of the agitation sit across the table for meaningful talks.

The All Party Panel had also expressed reservations over the new guidelines of the Election Commission of India and had favoured reverting to the conventional method of enrolment of voters and also to ensure that dubious voters do not find a place in the voters list. The directive of the Election Commission was that registration officers alone can decide names of dual voters. However, the All Party Panel headed by Deputy Chief Minister Bindo M Lanong is of the opinion that the district administration differs from the directive of the Election Commission, again because of the existing ground realities in Meghalaya, that a single government officer can not decide the destiny of the state, especially pertaining to elections when the citizens elect their representatives to the State Legislative Assembly and also to those taking the helm of affairs of governance.

As such the All Party Committee had expressed reservations over the new guidelines of the Election Commission of India and suggested that other methods are to be taken to prevent dubious voters from being enrolled into the voters list. The Committee therefore was of the opinion that voters registration, besides the election machinery, other competent authorities including the traditional institutions of the Dorbars, the Rangbah Shnongs (village and locality headmen), the district authorities, the municipal and others should be involved and taken into confidence so as all the loopholes for dubious voters are plugged.

The All Party Panel had also expressed reservations over the new guidelines of the Election Commission of India and had favoured reverting to the conventional method of enrolment of voters

Genuine voters who have been born and brought up in the state and have settled in the state, irrespective of caste, creed and religion and who have all along exercised their franchise are entitled to enrolment, those especially who have permanently settled in any part of the state. The Committee had also made it clear that no eligible Indian citizen should be left out from the electoral roll and if any doubts are raised of genuine voters, the rights of such a voter can be supported by relevant documents such as birth and school certificates.

Following the decision of the government to do away with the felicitation centres, the agitating NGOs and the Khasi Students’ Union President Daniel Khyriem had welcomed the move while at the same time he stated that the organisations would keep a close watch on further steps taken in resolving the issue.

A broad based decision will have to be taken and in this context the Chief Minister Dr. Mukul Sangma had said that the opinion of other Chief Ministers of the region would be taken for a cohesive approach in putting forward and tackling of sensitive issues with the Election Commission of India as all doubts should be cleared in preparing a desired clean voters list.

Sumar Sing Sawian