Two Dead in Garo Hills Clashes Over Election Rules

Violence erupted in the Garo Hills region of Meghalaya, India, leaving two Muslim men dead and several others injured, as clashes between tribal and nontribal communities intensified over restrictions on candidates in the upcoming Garo Hills Autonomous District Council elections. The unrest began late on March 9 and persisted through March 11, primarily in Chibinang town and Tura in West Garo Hills district, near the India-Bangladesh border.

The immediate trigger was a February 17 notification from the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council requiring candidates to submit a valid Scheduled Tribe certificate when filing nominations for the April 10 elections. This measure effectively barred nontribal individuals from contesting in the council's 30 constituencies, at least five of which lie in the nontribal-dominated plains belt where Bengali-origin Muslims form a majority of the population. On March 10, the Meghalaya High Court set aside the notification, ruling it unconstitutional under the 1951 Autonomous Districts rules and the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution. The court noted that nontribals have historically participated as voters and candidates since the council's...