Shillong: Tura MDC Bernard Marak is blowing the whistle on the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council delimitation process. He fired off a formal complaint to District Council Affairs Minister Prestone Tynsong on October 11. Marak wants to know if the council is just drawing lines to stall elections and hold onto power.
The committee is biased. Marak claims the chairman and several members belong to the National People’s Party. While he admitted membership does not prove criminal wrongdoing, he insisted the government must kill the perception of bias to keep the public on its side. He says the process has ignored proper public consultation, leaving elected members in the dark about boundary shifts.
He is citing Paragraph 2(6) of the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution. The rules demand transparency for district councils. Marak is demanding the publication of all boundary proposals and immediate public hearings in every affected constituency. He also wants official talks with traditional institutions and fellow MDCs to ensure the process stays clean.
Marak questioned the six-month extension of the current council term. He suspects political games, not administrative necessity, are driving the delay. He warned that the Sixth Schedule exists to shield tribal rights, not to rig the game for a single party. "Delimitation must be for the people, not for any political party," he said. He ended his call for action by demanding a firm, time-bound schedule for the next GHADC elections.
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