Haflong: The election to the North Cachar Hills Autonomous Council will be delayed by a few months because of the updating of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam.

As most of the employees and officers are engaged in the update process, there is an acute manpower shortage to conduct the elections.

Dima Hasao deputy commissioner Amitabh Rajkhowa on Saturday wrote to Assam hills area department commissioner and secretary stating that it will be difficult to conduct the elections on time as 80 per cent of the field officers to be engaged in the election are currently engaged in the updating the NRC.

Rajkhowa on Wednesday said the term of the council expires on June 3 and the election was scheduled for May this year. But as many of the officers and staff are engaged in the NRC work they cannot be engaged in the election duty.

"The Supreme Court had said, vide its order dated 27/03/2018, that the officers and staff, already engaged in NRC, cannot by spared in any other work till the completion of the NRC. So, without manpower it is not possible to conduct the election," he said.

Rajkhowa said the NRC update process will be completed by June 30 and it will be possible to hold the elections after that.

The decision to conduct the election will be taken by the governor of Assam as he is the head of the council.

Official notification is yet to come from governor's office about the month and date of the election. According to sources, the Assam government and the current North Cachar Hills Autonomous Council are of the view that the election should be postponed for another six months.

The cloud on the date of council election is likely to be cleared on April 11 when Assam governor Jagdish Mukhi is scheduled to visit Haflong. He is likely to visit Dima Hasao district on a two-day tour.