GUWAHATI:
A day after he approved an amendment making a Scheduled Tribe (ST) certificate mandatory for candidates contesting the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council (GHADC) polls, four tribal groups have written to Meghalaya Governor Chandrashekhar H. Vijayshankar seeking similar measures to bar non-tribal people from voting in elections to tribal councils.
On March 23, Governor Vijayshankar approved the amendment to the Assam and Meghalaya Autonomous Districts Rules, 1951, barring non-tribal people from contesting the GHADC election. The GHADC governs the western half of Meghalaya, dominated by the Garo tribe.
On Tuesday (March 24, 2026), leaders of the Garo Students’ Union (GSU), the Federation of Khasi Jaintia and Garo People, the Association of Democratic Empowerment, and the Nangrimingin A’chik Dol told the Governor in their petition that measures to make the autonomous district council polls off-limits to non-tribal people were necessary “to protect the constitutional intent of these councils”.
“Rules relevant to the tribal councils need amendment to incorporate provisions safeguarding the rights of the indigenous tribes of the Garo Hills,” GSU president Tengsak G. Momin said.
