ECI tells rivals to try resolve internally
EM Bureau
Dimapur, Oct. 18 (EMN): Reminiscent of the previous tussle within the NPF party in 2015, the Election Commission of India has on Oct. 17, again directed the rival groups to exhaust all the recourses within the party constitution, and so call for a general convention to decide the future of the party leaderships.
The ECI specifically mentioned Article XV of the NPF party constitution that deals with disputes arising out of splits and merger wherein it states that the General Convention of the party shall decide the issue as per majority decision (two third majority) of the active members of the party.
" ln the face of an express, binding provision in the Party Constitution to deal with situations of split, the two groups have to resort to the Party Constitution as a matter of first recourse. Until such recourse has been exhausted, it would not be fit for the Commission to adjudicate the matter," stated the order from the ECI.
The current case arose out of the application by Neiphiu Rio that was filed at the ECI on Aug. 17, 2017 claiming to be the president of the NPF party.
In the order, the ECI also acknowledged that as per the party's constitution the proper process of the elections of central and divisional office bearers of the NPF party is only through a general convention and that "list of office bearers submitted by the Party in 2015, Dr. Shurhozelie Liezietsu was shown as the President of the party, and Shri Apong Pongener as the Working President".
The ECI also took cognisance of the affidavits filed by the legislature wing and the organisational wing of the party in support of both the groups.
It stated that Neiphiu Rio who is also an MP had filed affidavits of 27 NPF MLAs from the original 38 MLAs who were elected on the party's ticket along with 31 of the 63 Central office bearers of the party.
On the other hand the ECI also stated that the group headed by Dr. Shurhozelie Liezietsu had filed affidavits of 10 NPF party MLAs, 1 MP (Rajya Sabha) and 30 Central Office Bearers.
"The submissions of the respective parties, together with the sets of documents submitted by each group, make it evident that there are two rival groups wishing to control the party and claim to be representing the party. lt is evident that there is a split in the party, with two apparent rival groups," the commission further observed.
The ECI order surprisingly had no mention about the general convention called by the group led by Neiphiu Rio on Sep. 20, 2017 when they were able to mobilise a huge crowd of supporters with a claim that they had the majority support of the CEC members to call the general convention.
Rio's group states order based on pre general convention affidavits
With the outcome of the ECI order sans any mention of the general convention of Sep. 20, the NPF group led by Neiphiu Rio stated that the current order may have been based only on affidavits filed prior to the general convention.
"The ECI order dated 17 Oct. is presumably issued based on the facts, documents, affidavits filed by NPF (Rio) prior to 20 Sep general convention," stated the Press and Information Cell of the NPF group led by Neiphiu Rio.
It stated that after the general convention the required "affidavits, photographic & video graphic evidences" of the general convention, the number of CEC , COB, MLAs and the number of supporting divisions were all submitted to the ECI.
"Moreover, we have produced the number of primary/active members present during the convention," it added
The group led by Rio hoped that the ECI will take cognisance of all those submissions and deliver the verdict at the earliest.
Split or Merger
The group of NPF party led by beleaguered President Dr. Shurhozelie Liezietsu has on Wednesday stated that the ECI order of Oct. 17,2017 directing the party to call for a general convention is a clear indication that the earlier general convention called by Neiphiu Rio on Sep. 20 last was illegal.
"The very fact that the ECI did not take cognizance of the so-called General Convention of September 20, 2017 at Dimapur by these imposters has vindicated the stance of the NPF that the September 20 Get-together of hypocrites and paid non-locals was unauthorized, unconstitutional and illegal," stated the Press and Media Bureau of the NPF party led by Liezietsu.
The press release also stated the ECI order proves that the "imposters" are not legally competent to cal for a general convention of the NPF party else the ECI would have considered the general convention of Sep. 20 as legitimate.
It also attacked the rival group that the claimed thirty thousand members who attended the convention as there are only about nine thousand active members of the NPF party.
"However, what these claimants did not consider was that there are only a little above nine thousand people enrolled as Active Members of the NPF, and herding together tens of thousands of people from neighbouring State and localities through inducements, does not amount to anything since only enrolled members of the party have a say in the affairs of the party," it stated.
It also stated that there is no "iota of doubt the law shall prevail" and similarly even the issue of the Chief Whip that is currently in the court of law will be decided in their favour.
On this note it warned the rival MLAs that "their days are numbered" and "the sooner they mend their ways the better it would be for them".
"It is yet to be seen what chicanery the charlatans would come up with to deceive the people, but it has been made very clear that subterfuge, power and money cannot purchase legality. And no amount of deception can fool the law" it further stated.
