SHILLONG: The Khun Hynniewtrep National Awakening Movement (KHNAM) has announced plans to formally petition the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Meghalaya, demanding firm assurances that no indigenous or local residents will be wrongly removed or excluded during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the state’s electoral roll.
KHNAM’s move comes amid mounting concerns about the underlying framework and execution of the voter verification process. The party warns that the current methodology could unintentionally disenfranchise legitimate tribal voters across Meghalaya.
According to KHNAM Working President Thomas Passah, the SIR’s reliance on baseline data from the 2005 electoral roll is particularly troubling, as the current revision fundamentally depends on information gathered over twenty years ago. Passah cautioned that this dependence on outdated data increases the risk of legitimate indigenous citizens being stripped of their voting rights or omitted from the final rolls—a scenario he described as both an administrative failure and a grave injustice.
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Further exacerbating these worries, KHNAM has flagged allegations that official Enumeration Forms have been handed directly to political representatives and party workers. Passah criticised this practice, arguing that permitting political actors to manage official data collection opens the process to manipulation and could turn an objective administrative exercise into a tool for partisan advantage.
KHNAM also highlighted significant demographic changes in the 18-West Shillong constituency.
Once a stronghold of indigenous tribal voters, the constituency now sees these communities reduced to a minority on the electoral roll. Passah warned that the SIR could further marginalise local populations or accelerate the removal of indigenous names, potentially distorting the state’s democratic fabric.
In addition to protecting local voters, KHNAM has called for a strict crackdown on non-tribal individuals holding multiple Electors Photo Identity Cards (EPICs). The party claims that many non-local voters registered in Meghalaya also possess valid voter IDs in other states and routinely participate in elections in both places—an explicit violation of Election Commission of India (ECI) rules.
KHNAM urges the election department to use the SIR for rigorous inter-state verification and the permanent removal of duplicate entries from Meghalaya’s electoral list.
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