Meghalaya Deputy CM counters Himanta’s statement; Says Mukroh is part of Meghalaya

Staff Reporter

Shillong, March 13: Countering the claim made by the Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong said that Mukroh is well within Meghalaya territory.

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“Our stand is very clear that Mukroh is well within Meghalaya. Even till this moment it is under the possession of Meghalaya,” Tynsong told reporters.

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He was reacting to Sarma’s statement informing the Assam Assembly that Mukroh is within the boundary of Assam and is under the jurisdiction of the West Karbi Anglong district.

On November 22, last year six persons including five Khasi villagers and one Assam forest guard were killed in an unprovoked firing by the Assam police at Mukroh village in West Jaintia Hills District.

When asked, Tynsong said, “I don’t know why such a statement was made by the Assam CM because now we are in the process of stepping into the second phase of talk. I personally feel he should not say that. It is very unfortunate if he had made the statement inside the House,” while reiterating “But let me tell you one more thing very clearly that Mukroh area falls under Meghalaya.”

The deputy chief minister ruled out that the state government will shoot a protest letter to the Assam government and said, “Not necessarily because the talk will start again so just wait for that.”

He informed that the government is working out on priority to reconstitute the regional committees to take the second phase of border talks forward for resolving the remaining six areas of difference shared between the two states.

“We have already made it very clear to the people of the state that the second phase of talks will start very soon so will work accordingly,” Tynsong said.

On March 29, last year a memorandum of understanding was signed between Assam and Meghalaya in presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah ending the dispute in six of the twelve areas of difference.

In Meghalaya, 45 out of 59 winning candidates are crorepatis, as per analysis report

Staff Reporter

Shillong, March 8: Forty-five of the fifty-nine winning candidates in the 2023 Assembly elections are crorepatis. This was as per a statement issued by Meghalaya Election Watch and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) after having analysed the self-sworn affidavits of all 59 winning candidates.

These include 20 (77 per cent) out of 26 from NPP, 9(82 per cent) out of 11 from UDP, 4 (80 per cent) out of 5 from AITC, 3 (60 per cent) out of 5 from INC and 2 (100 per cent) out of 2 from BJP winning candidates have declared assets worth more than Rs. 1 crore.

The average of assets per winning candidate in the Meghalaya Assembly Elections 2023 is Rs 10.14 Crore while it was at Rs 7.18 crore in 2018.

The average assets per winning candidate for 26 NPP winning candidates is Rs 6.83 crore, 11 UDP winning candidates is Rs 19.96 crore, 5 AITC winning candidates is Rs 12.72 crore, 5 INC winning candidates is Rs 3.03 crore, 2 BJP winning candidates is Rs 14.91 crore and 2 Hill State People’s Democratic Party winning candidates have average assets worth Rs 32.21 crore.

The top three winning candidates with high assets are UDP chief and Mairang MLA Metbah Lyngdoh with Rs 1,46,31,51,838,  HSPDP MLA Methodius Dkhar – Rs 55,10,00,487 and  Sniawbhalang Dhar  – Rs 45,35,80,343, while the winning candidates with the low assets are AITC legislator from Dadenggre Rupa M. Marak with Rs 5,19,949, VPP legislator from North Shillong with Rs 13,61,442 and UDP legislator from Mokaiaw Nujorki Sungoh with Rs 18,73,220.

A total of 8 winning candidates have declared liabilities of Rs 1 crores and above. Of this, the top 3 winning candidates are Metbah Lyngdoh with Rs 44,54,23,816, Renikton Lyngdoh Tongkhar with Rs 7,28,20,406 and Sosthenes Sohtun with Rs 4,78,90,545.

The 3 winning candidates who have declared the highest income in their Income Tax Returns include Sniawbhalang Dhar with Rs 30,39,76,984, Renikton Lyngdoh Tongkhar with Rs 4,64,89,741 and  Methodius Dkhar with Rs 2,43,95,433.

Also, 3(12 per cent) out of 26 NPP winning candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.

2 (8 per cent) out of 26 NPP winning candidates have declared serious criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.

With regards to educational qualification, 17 (29 per cent) winning candidates have declared their educational qualification to be between 8th pass and 12th pass, while 39 (66 per cent) winning candidates have declared having an educational qualification of graduate and above. 3 winning candidates are Diploma holders.

37 (63 per cent) winning candidates have declared their age to be between 25 and 50 years while 22 (37 per cent) winning candidates have declared their age to be between 51 and 80.

Meanwhile, only 3 (5 per cent) winning candidates are women.