GHADC elections to be held at earliest, says Meghalaya CM Conrad Sangma

Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma has said elections to the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council (GHADC) will be held at the earliest, asserting that the government intends to complete the electoral process before the end of the council’s extended six-month term.

Sangma said the extension was granted to facilitate the completion of the delimitation exercise and other related electoral processes, including the preparation of a separate electoral roll.

“The elections cannot be held without the delimitation being held, and the delimitation exercise cannot be completed without the SER and the separate electoral roll coming in,” the chief minister said.

He explained that the delimitation exercise had been extensive and that the separate electoral roll needed to be approved by the Governor before the committee could proceed with the final stages of delimitation.

With the separate electoral roll process having progressed, the government is confident that the remaining steps can be completed within the extended period, Sangma said.

Rejecting suggestions that the extension was intended to delay the polls, the chief minister said the government had no other motive and remained committed to holding the elections at the earliest.

“We are not trying to delay the elections for any other purpose,” he said.