Staff Reporter
ITANAGAR, 8 Jul: The All Arunachal Tribal Rural Panchayat Restoration Andolan Committee (AATRPRAC) has served a 30-day ultimatum to the state government, seeking fulfillment of its five-point demand.
Speaking about its first demand during a press briefing at the press club here on Friday, the committee’s chairman Maji Tayem demanded “clarification from the state election commission on the voting rights of ordinary residents (a term used for non-APSTs) and permanent ST residents.
“The state election commission (SEC) said that a non-APST with voting rights can contest elections. And then he went on to say that ST and PRC are needed for enrolling. None of this is applicable in Changlang and Namsai districts as all of them are non-APSTs. Who will verify?” he said.
The committee also sought action against the SEC, the district election officers and the ROs concerned “for allowing non-APSTs to participate in the state panchayat election 2020 in various zilla parishad constituencies of Namsai and Changlang districts.”
“All of the residents are non-APSTs. Despite our request not to allow them, they still let them contest the election,” Tayem said.
Calling for rollback of the names of the non-APST panchayat leaders of Changlang and Namsai districts, he claimed that “no one was there to verify their documents. They were just asked for the party ticket and then they were allowed to contest. No one was there to verify the documents as none of them are APSTs. Even the GBs are non-APSTs,” he said.
The committee further demanded constituting of a high-level committee “to monitor and check illegal procuring of illegal ST, PRC by the non-APSTs.”
The AATRPRAC also sought the removal of Deputy Chief Minister Chowna Mein, claiming that he is an outsider.
