Manipur: Congress condemns BJP government for not holding ADC elections in the state

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Manipur Congress claimed that the BJP government in the state is "anti-tribal" and "anti-hill" as they have not held the autonomous district council (ADC) elections for the last four years, PTI reported.

There are six autonomous district councils in the state of Manipur.

Manipur State Congress president Keisham Meghachandra in a post on X said, "The BJP government is anti-hill people, anti-tribal as this BJP government has deliberately chosen not to conduct ADC elections for the last 4 years."

Keisham also criticised the resolution passed on October 14 by the Hill Areas Committee (HAC) under the Manipur Legislative Assembly, stating that the committee following a threadbare discussion unanimously resolved to "recommend to the government of Manipur to conduct the long pending Autonomous District Councils election as soon as possible."

The committee also said that for the administration of the ADCs to run, a committee of 20 members for each ADC shall be constituted of which 18 will be elected from former ADC members/experts in local self govt/ eminent persons/ intellectuals and two govt nominees of the district till the ADC election is conducted, PTI reported.

Keisham described the resolution as "unconstitutional, illegal and void of any source of law from the Constitution" asserting that the HAC has no constitutional authority to enact such a resolution.

He also said that the last election to ADCs was held in 2015 by the Congress government, whose term ended in 2020. The BJP government came to power in 2017 in the state, and since 2020 there have been no elections held for the ADCs.

The ADCs were not held for the last four years.

"... temporary arrangement of functioning the ADCs through illegal means of selection by the BJP government must immediately stop in the larger interests of the people of the hills of Manipur," Keisham said.

By not holding ADC elections, the financial devolution, central grants-in-aid, central financing, MGNREGS, central schemes related to ADCs, plus the Finance Commission awards are being denied to the people of the hills in the state, the Manipur Congress president alleged.

(With inputs from PTI)