Shillong, Apr 22: Social activist Jaynie Ningring N Sangma has filed a complaint with the Election Commission of India against NPP member Kritenbirth R. Marak for using a person with disability for the party’s advantage.
In the complaint, Jaynie Ningring N Sangma
said on the evening of April 18, a day before the polls, Kritenbirth R. Marak of the National People’s Party (NPP), made a video exploiting a differently-abled person, Milam N Sangma, for his own amusement and political mockery with the intention of scoring political points. The video was filmed without the informed consent of neither Milam N Sangma nor his guardian and done in the absence of his guardian. In the video Milam can be seen with NPP scarf and Kritenbirth can be heard in the background, It can be clearly seen in the video that Milam does not comprehend the actions he was coerced to do by Kritenbirth, Jaynie said.
The translated transcript of what Kritenbirth said is “This is Saleng’s brother-in-law who has come to visit me and I am asking him now. Who will you vote for? Who will you vote for? Oh, for the book. Who is the book? Agatha. Agatha. Okay. Then it is very good.”
Jaynie said the background of Milam is that he is the younger brother of Tracy N Sangma, the ex-wife of Saleng N Sangma, the Congress candidate competing against the NPP’s Agatha Sangma for the Tura seat. He is a differently-abled individual with underdeveloped mental faculties.
“For the record, though the incident happened on the 18th of April, 2024, one day before the polls, thereby violating the model code of conduct, there has been no suo moto action from the Returning Officer or the Chief Electoral Officer of Meghalaya”, Jaynie said.
She has also attached social media post of Kritenbirth admitting guilt and apologising after the video went viral followed by public outcry.
The copy of the FIR filed by her and a screen recording of the offending video was also sent to the ECI.
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