SHILLONG — Meghalaya Congress working president Deborah C. Marak has defended the party’s support for the proposed Special Electoral Roll (SER) in the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council, rejecting allegations that Congress is anti-Garo amid a political row over a legal challenge to the council’s electoral rules.
Marak said the Meghalaya Pradesh Congress Committee supported the separate roll as a measure to protect tribal identity and political rights. She accused political opponents of dragging the party into a case filed before the Meghalaya High Court because senior advocate Salman Khurshid, a former Congress MP, is representing the petitioners.
The MPCC, she said, neither filed the case nor authorised anyone to bring it on the party’s behalf. The petitioners had approached the court in their individual capacity, while Khurshid was appearing as their lawyer, she said.
Marak argued that a lawyer’s professional role should not be confused with party affiliation, pointing out that Khurshid had represented people across political lines, including Opposition figures and members of the ruling National People’s Party.
“An advocate’s professional responsibility is distinct from the political affiliation or past political association,” she said.
The dispute comes as the Meghalaya High Court considers a challenge to amendments in the GHADC electoral rules that restrict participation in council elections to tribal communities. The petition questions the constitutional validity of provisions governing voter eligibility and candidate qualifications. The court has scheduled the next hearing for October 29.
Rejecting the charge that Congress had acted against Garo interests, Marak invoked Meghalaya’s statehood in 1972 under Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and the role of Captain Williamson A. Sangma, the state’s first chief minister and a Congress leader from Garo Hills.
“At that crucial moment in our history, when Captain Williamson Sangma and other leaders were struggling for the aspirations and political rights of our people, where were the BJP and the NPP?” she asked.
Marak maintained that the party’s support for the SER was based on its stated commitment to tribal rights, not political convenience.
