New Delhi: Meghalaya’s Garo Hills have been on the boil over the last few days over the participation of non-tribals in the district council elections, earlier scheduled for 10 April but now put on hold.
On Wednesday, Chief Minister Conrad Sangma said that the violence, which has claimed two lives, had nearly reached his doorstep, prompting security personnel to request that he vacate his house in the district, which is considered his family’s home turf.
The CM, a Garo himself, has refused to relocate despite the unrest in Garo Hills. Sangma has been helming the affairs of the state since 2018.
In a region where ethnic identity often overrides other considerations, the issue has opened up a faultline that has long simmered but has never quite been addressed with a permanent solution.
Visited several locations in Tura today to assess the damage caused to public and private properties across the town. It is truly heartbreaking to witness the extent of the destruction. Distressed to see the loss suffered by individuals and commercial establishments.
At times… pic.twitter.com/g9GX1EZ0FW
— Conrad K Sangma (@SangmaConrad) March 12, 2026
A basic question that has arisen out of the controversy is how non-tribals can participate in electing public representatives to a body established to safeguard the rights and interests of tribals.
To understand this, one has to look at the origin and functioning of councils such as the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council (GHADC), which has 29 elected members and one nominated member.
There are 10 councils, including the GHADC, formed under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution, spread across Meghalaya, Assam, Mizoram and Tripura.
In Meghalaya, the three autonomous district councils—covering the Khasi, Jaintia and Garo Hills divisions respectively—are all governed by the National People’s Party (NPP)-led ruling alliance, of which the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is a part.
The Sixth Schedule provides a special system of autonomous governance for tribal areas in the Northeast, allowing them to preserve their distinct social, cultural and land-ownership practices.
It creates Autonomous District Councils and Regional Councils with legislative, administrative and limited judicial powers over subjects such as land, forests (other than reserved forests), village administration, inheritance, marriage and customary law.
But, reservation of seats for tribals is determined by state laws and council election rules, which is why the provisions vary significantly across states in the region.
Elections to the councils in Assam and Meghalaya are held under the Assam and Meghalaya Autonomous Districts (Constitution of District Councils) Rules, 1951.
Rule 8 of the 1951 Rules provides that anyone eligible to vote in a district council election is also eligible to contest as a member. Meanwhile, Rule 128 states that even individuals who do not belong to a recognised Scheduled Tribe in the state may vote in these elections, provided they are permanent residents within the territorial limits of the concerned autonomous district.
While the 1951 Rules do not bar the participation of non-tribals, over the decades most of these councils, barring a few, have reserved their seats exclusively for tribals by framing their own electoral rules aligned with local sentiments.
For instance, the KHADC (Constitution and Procedure and Conduct of Business) Rules, 2018 are a set of internal rules framed by the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council, which state that only Indian citizens belonging to Scheduled Tribes and ordinarily resident in the constituency can vote in its elections.
The councils that continue to have a handful of unreserved or open seats include the GHADC in Meghalaya; the Bodoland Territorial Council, the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council and the Dima Hasao Autonomous Council in Assam; and the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council.
The participation of non-tribals in the GHADC has been a contentious issue for years. Even in 2008, the Congress, which was then in power in Meghalaya, faced protests after fielding two non-tribal candidates in seats located in the plain areas of the district, which have a substantial population of Bengali-speaking Muslims along the border with Assam and Bangladesh.
West Garo Hills has a nearly 17.6 percent Muslim population, while the figure stands at around 13 percent in South West Garo Hills. In the 60-member Meghalaya Assembly elected in 2023, there are two Muslim MLAs—Mizanur Rahman Kazi (TMC) from Rajabala and Abu Taher Mondal (NPP) from Phulbari—both from West Garo Hills.
At the heart of the current dispute is a 17 February notification issued by the GHADC chief executive member, stating that the council’s executive committee had decided that individuals seeking membership must be able to establish that they belong to a Scheduled Tribe recognised in Meghalaya.
The notification contended that this stipulation was essential for effective monitoring of tribal affairs and the safeguarding of traditional customs.
It marked a shift in the stance of the ruling NPP, which earlier maintained that non-tribals could not be barred from participating in the GHADC elections unless the electoral rolls were formally revised.
In 2021, the Congress emerged as the largest party with 12 seats. However, the NPP, which had won 11 seats, took control of the council with the support of others, including two candidates of the BJP and three Independents.
Tensions erupted earlier this week when Esmatur Mominin, a former MLA from Phulbari currently affiliated with the Trinamool Congress, attempted to submit his nomination papers. He was confronted and attacked amid protests from groups representing the Garo community, which cited the 17 February notification.
The issue soon spiralled into violence and reached the Meghalaya High Court, which ruled Wednesday that the notification has no legal standing as it goes against provisions of the 1951 Rules.
Following the violence, the Conrad Sangma-led NPP government decided to put the elections on hold. On Thursday, the CM visited Tura and took stock of the damage caused to public and private properties across the town.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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