Politics / Meghalaya

SHILLONG, August 3: Meghalaya Students Federation activists today trooped into the state Assembly shouting anti-government slogans forcing the one-day special session of House to be deferred by 30 minutes in which the Opposition candidate was elected as the deputy speaker. Ten members of the ruling Congress cross-voted in favour of the Opposition nominee Martin M Danggo of the Peoples' Democratic Movement who defeated the ruling Meghalaya Parliamentary Forum candidate, Tonsin N Marak (Congress) by 34 votes to 24. The MPF which comprises the Congress and United Democratic Party (UDP) enjoys a...

SHILLONG, July 31: The ruling coalition government in Meghalaya received another jolt yesterday with the United Democratic Party (UDP) central executive committee authorising the party's legislature party to take a "final decision" on the continuance of the coalition. The decision was taken by the UDP body at a meeting here yesterday which was presided over by party president and state Speaker, EK Mawlong. Mawlong told newsmen at the end of the marathon six hour-long meeting that "we have set no timeframe On the turnaround made by the UDP barely 24 hours after the Meghalaya Parliamentary Forum...

SHILLONG, July 29: The crisis-laden Congress-United Democratic Party (UDP) coalition ministry in Meghalaya on Thursday got a fresh lease of life with the Meghalaya Parliamentary Forum (MPF) - the joint parliamentary party of the two ruling partners - reiterating their firm commitment to the principles and provisions laid down in the joint 'agreement' signed by the two parties. The MPF met on Thursday under the shadow of reports in local dailies about the imminent collapse of the coalition government due to inter-party and intra-party differences arising from the emergence of the Nationalist...

SHILLONG, July 22: The Meghalaya chief minister BB Lyngdoh's move to induct the Speaker and ruling United Democratic Party (UDP) president, EK Mawlong, as the second deputy Chief Minister was scuttled on Thursday on technical grounds. Mawlong told The Assam Tribune that under the Article 169 of the Indian Constitution a Speaker can submit resignation only to the deputy Speaker of the House. "Since there is no deputy Speaker in the Meghalaya House at present and I as the custodian of the House cannot break the law," he said. The post fell vacant following the induction of the deputy Speaker RL...

New Delhi, July 12: The Supreme Court on Monday gave six weeks time to the Centre and the governments of West Bengal, Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura to file affidavits on a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking repatriation of over one crore Bangladeshi migrants illegally staying in India. A three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice AS Anand, justice M Jagannadha Rao and justice Santosh N Hedge, while giving the time, observed that matter was of serious nature and the States and the Centre should not delay it further. The PIL filed by All India Lawyers Forum for Civil Liberties...

Shillong, July 12: The Nationalist Congress Party received a shot in the arm when all the 11 members of the Meghalaya Congress Legislature Party today formally merged with it. Announcing the merger, the NCP general secretary, PA Sangma, told a press conference here after the first-ever convention of the Meghalaya unit that Robert Kharshiing has been unanimously selected the president of the State unit. The other members will be selected shortly after consulting the district unit, he said claiming that many more former MLAs and district Congress committee members would join the NCP within a...

Guwahati, Julu 11: The NE Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) considers moral background of candidates as one of the basic criteria to finalise its list of nominees for the ensuing Lok Sabha polls, said NCP general secretary and convenor of its NE core committee P A Sangma here on Sunday. The NE core committee of the party, which was constituted recently by its all India president Sharad Pawar with SC Sinha as the chairman, PA Sangma as the convenor, Prof BB Dutta as the member secretary and presidents of the eight Pradesh NCP committees (including Sikkim) as ex-officio members, will soon come...