logo
Mizoram: Governor's rule imposed in Chakma Autonomous District Council

Mizoram: Governor's rule imposed in Chakma Autonomous District Council

Hindustan Times2 days ago
AIZAWL: Mizoram Governor V K Singh on Monday imposed governor's rule in the Chakma Autonomous District Council (CADC) following prolonged political instability and frequent leadership changes. Mizoram Governor General (retired) VK Singh. (File Photo)
A notification issued by the Department of District Council and Minority Affairs stated that the Governor has, under constitutional provisions, assumed all powers and functions vested in or exercisable by the CADC.
The move follows the ousting of chief executive member (CEM) Molin Kumar Chakma through a no-confidence motion on June 16. Subsequently, Lakkhan Chakma staked claim to become the third CEM of the 11th CADC, backed by eight BJP members who defected to the ruling Zoram People's Movement (ZPM) on June 2.
The notification cited 'constant political instability' as a key reason behind the decision, stating that such a situation is 'extremely detrimental for the CADC' and contrary to the objectives of the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution, which mandates effective administration of tribal areas.
The Governor has authorised the deputy commissioner of Lawngtlai district to exercise the council's powers on his behalf with immediate effect, for a period of six months or until further orders.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Bihar Voter List Row: SC to hear pleas challenging Election Commission's decision today
Bihar Voter List Row: SC to hear pleas challenging Election Commission's decision today

Mint

time43 minutes ago

  • Mint

Bihar Voter List Row: SC to hear pleas challenging Election Commission's decision today

Bihar Voter List Row: The Supreme Court will today hear the batch of petitions challenging the Election Commission of India's special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in poll-bound Bihar. The SC bench, comprising Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Joymalya Bagchi, has over 10 related matters, including the SIR issue, listed for hearing on July 10 On July 9, the top court agreed to hear a fresh plea by two social activists, Arshad Ajmal and Rupesh Kumar, challenging the poll panel's decision to undertake extensive revision of electoral rolls in the state. The activists have said the exercise undermines the principles of free and fair elections and representative democracy, both integral features of the Constitution's basic structure, by introducing arbitrary, unreasonable and disproportionate documentation requirements related to birth, residence and citizenship. Besides, lawyer Ashwini Upadhyay has filed a separate plea supporting the move and seeking a direction to the poll panel to conduct the SIR to ensure only Indian citizens decide the polity and policy, not the illegal foreign infiltrators.' The demography of 200 districts and 1,500 tehsils has changed after independence due to massive illegal infiltration, deceitful religious conversion and population explosion. Demography is destiny, and dozens of districts have already seen their destiny being shaped by those who aren't Indians," he said. On July 7, the bench noted the submissions of lawyers led by senior counsel Kapil Sibal, who was representing several petitioners, and agreed to hear the pleas on July 10. Sibal, who is representing RJD MP Manoj Jha, urged the bench to issue notices to the poll panel on the petitions, calling it an "impossible task" within the timeline as elections were to happen in the state in November. Senior advocate Abhishek M Singhvi, appearing for another petitioner, said of the eight crore voters in the state, four crore voters would have to submit their documents under the exercise. "The timeline is so strict, and if by July 25 you don't submit the documents, you will be out," Singhvi added. Senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, appearing for another petitioner, said the poll panel was not accepting Aadhaar cards and voter ID cards as proof for the exercise. Posting the matter on July 10, Justice Dhulia said the timeline was not sanctified at present as elections hadn't been notified yet. The bench asked the petitioners to give advance notice of their petitions to the counsel for the Election Commission of India. Election watchdog Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) is also one of the petitioners. Beside RJD MP Jha and Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, Congress' K C Venugopal, Supriya Sule from the Sharad Pawar NCP faction, D Raja from Communist Party of India, Harinder Singh Malik from Samajwadi Party, Arvind Sawant from Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray), Sarfraz Ahmed from Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and Dipankar Bhattacharya of CPI (ML) have jointly moved the top court. All leaders have challenged the Election Commission's order directing for SIR of electoral rolls in Bihar and sought direction for its quashing. Jha, in his plea filed through advocate Fauzia Shakil, argues that the EC's June 24 order should be quashed for violating Articles 14 (fundamental right to equality), 21 (fundamental right to life and liberty), 325 (no person can be excluded from electoral roll based on caste, religion, and sex) and 326 (every citizen of India who has attained 18 years of age is eligible to be registered as a voter) of the Constitution. "The impugned order prescribes a schedule and requires the submission of enumeration form within 30 days, followed by filing of claims and objections and their disposal within 30 days," the plea said. Moitra sought a direction from the apex court to restrain the EC from issuing similar orders for SIR of electoral rolls in other states of the country. The poll panel's SIR exercise, which started in Bihar on June 25, has triggered a political storm. The opposition Congress has dubbed it 'a rigging attempt' orchestrated by the Election Commission under instructions from the ruling regime. At least half a dozen petitions by political parties, individuals, and civil society groups have been filed in the Supreme Court against what they call a 'blatantly unconstitutional' exercise. The impugned order prescribes a schedule and requires the submission of enumeration form within 30 days, followed by filing of claims and objections and their disposal within 30 days. Opposition leaders, including Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, RJD's Tejashwi Yadav and several others of the INDIA bloc led a march to the Election Commission's office in Patna as part of the protest. The poll panel has said that the intensified revision's objective is to ensure that the names of all eligible citizens are included in the electoral roll so as to enable them to exercise their franchise, that no ineligible voter is included in the electoral roll, and that complete transparency is introduced in the process of adding or deleting electors in the electoral roll.

Trump administration sues California over transgender athlete policies
Trump administration sues California over transgender athlete policies

Business Standard

time2 hours ago

  • Business Standard

Trump administration sues California over transgender athlete policies

The move escalates a battle between the Republican administration in Washington and Democratic-led California over trans athletes AP Sacramento (US) President Donald Trump's administration sued the California Department of Education on Wednesday for allowing transgender girls to compete on girls sports teams, alleging the policy violates federal law. The move escalates a battle between the Republican administration in Washington and Democratic-led California over trans athletes. The lawsuit filed by the Justice Department says California's transgender athlete policies violate Title IX, the federal law that bans discrimination in education based on sex. The department says California's rules are not only illegal and unfair but also demeaning, signalling to girls that their opportunities and achievements are secondary to accommodating boys. US Attorney General Pam Bondi warned other states that allow trans girls to compete in female athletics that they could also face challenges by the federal government. If you do not comply, you're next, she said in a video posted on social media. We will protect girls in girls sports. The state Education Department and the California Interscholastic Federation, the governing body for high school sports that was also named a defendant, said they would not comment on pending litigation. California has a more than decade-old law on the books that allows students to participate in sex-segregated school programs, including on sports teams, and use bathrooms and other facilities that align with their gender identity. Trump criticised the participation of a transgender high school student-athlete who won titles in the California track-and-field championships last month. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon wrote in a letter after the meet that the California Interscholastic Federation violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution by allowing trans girls to compete against other female athletes. The federal Education Department earlier this year launched an investigation into California's policies allowing athletes to compete on sports teams consistent with their gender identity. The agency said last month that the policies violate Title IX, and it gave the state 10 days to agree to change them. But the state this week refused. Trump also sparred with Maine's Democratic governor over that state's transgender-athlete policies. Gov. Janet Mills told the president in February, We'll see you in court, over his threats to pull funding to the state over the issue. His administration filed a lawsuit in April alleging Maine violated Title IX by allowing trans girls and women to compete against other female athletes. The Justice Department's lawsuit against California says its policies ignore undeniable biological differences between boys and girls, in favour of an amorphous 'gender identity.' The results of these illegal policies are stark: girls are displaced from podiums, denied awards, and miss out on critical visibility for college scholarships and recognition, the suit says. Meanwhile, on his podcast in March, California Democratic Gov Gavin Newsom angered some party allies when he questioned the fairness of trans girls competing in girls sports. GOP critics have called on the governor to back a ban, saying his remarks do not square with his actions. The issue is part of a nationwide battle over the rights of transgender youth in which states have limited transgender girls from participating on girls sports teams, barred gender-affirming surgeries for minors and required parents to be notified if a child changes their pronouns at school. More than two dozen states have laws barring transgender women and girls from participating in certain sports competitions. Some of the policies have been blocked in court. Trump signed an executive order in February aimed at barring trans girls and women from participating on sports teams consistent with their gender identity. Proponents of a ban, including the conservative California Family Council, say it would restore fairness in athletic competitions. But opponents, including the LGBTQ+ advocacy group Equality California, say bans are an attack on transgender youth. In Oregon, three high school track-and-field athletes filed a federal lawsuit against the state this week seeking to remove records set by transgender students and prevent them from participating in girls sports. They say allowing trans girls to compete against other female athletes is unfair and violates Title IX. The US Education Department launched investigations earlier this year into Portland Public Schools and the state's governing body for high school sports to over alleged violations of Title IX in girls high school sports.

SC To Hear Today Pleas Against Electoral Rolls Revision In Bihar
SC To Hear Today Pleas Against Electoral Rolls Revision In Bihar

India.com

time2 hours ago

  • India.com

SC To Hear Today Pleas Against Electoral Rolls Revision In Bihar

The Supreme Court is slated to hear on Thursday a clutch of petitions challenging the Election Commission's decision to revise electoral rolls in poll-bound Bihar. As per the causelist published on the website of the apex court, a Bench of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Joymalya Bagchi will take up the matter for hearing on July 10. On Monday, the Justice Dhulia-led Bench agreed to urgently list the batch of pleas against the ECI's order directing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar after a battery of lawyers, including senior advocates Kapil Sibal, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Gopal Sankaranarayanan and Shadan Farasat, mentioned it for urgent hearing. Several petitions have been filed before the top court claiming that if the June 26 order issued by the poll body directing SIR is not set aside, it can 'arbitrarily' and 'without due process' disenfranchise lakhs of voters from electing their representatives, and disrupt free and fair elections and democracy — a part of basic structure of the Constitution. In her petition, Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Mahua Moitra apprehended that such a second revision of the voters list could be replicated in West Bengal and demanded the Supreme Court to restrain the Election Commission from issuing similar orders for the SIR of electoral rolls in other states of the country. Moitra, through her advocate Neha Rathi, contended that it is for the 'very first time in the country' that such an exercise is being conducted by the poll body, where electors whose names are already there in electoral rolls and who have already voted multiple times in the past are being asked to prove their eligibility. As per the plea, the SIR requirement asking voters to again prove their eligibility through a set of documents is 'absurd', since on the basis of their existing eligibility, most of them have already voted multiple times in the Assembly as well as general elections. Amid the controversy, the ECI on Wednesday posted on X an excerpt from Article 326 of the Constitution of India, apparently to justify the ongoing SIR exercise in Bihar ahead of the ensuing Assembly elections. 'The elections to the House of the People and to the Legislative Assembly of every State shall be on the basis of adult suffrage; that is to say, every person who is a citizen of India and who is not less than twenty-one years of age on such date as may be fixed in that behalf by or under any law made by the appropriate Legislature and is not otherwise disqualified under this Constitution or any law made by the appropriate Legislature on the ground of non-residence, unsoundness of mind, crime or corrupt or illegal practice, shall be entitled to be registered as a voter at any such election,' quoted the poll body.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store