Guwahati, Sept. 9: The Rabha Hasong Joint Action Committee, an umbrella organisation of 34 groups, today threatened to ban meetings by political parties if the Assam government failed to announce the date of elections to the Rabha Hasong Autonomous Council (RHAC) by September 30.

The committee today condemned the state government’s move to postpone elections to the autonomous council till November 4.

In 1995, the state government had constituted the autonomous council comprising areas in Goalpara and Kamrup districts. Since then elections to the council had not been conducted, inviting criticism from different quarters. The committee has been demanding polls to the council while non-Rabha groups are demanding exclusion of villages with majority non-Rabha population from the council area before holding polls.

The chief coordinator of the committee, Ramen Singh Rabha, said they had decided to stage a dharna in front of Raj Bhavan here next week seeking the governor’s intervention to hold elections to the council.

“If the state government fails to announce the date of elections within this month, we will not allow any political party to organise meetings in the council area. We will launch a massive protest seeking election. The state government has failed to conduct elections to the council in the last 18 years and as a result people living in the area are not getting benefits of the council,” Rabha said.

Acting on a petition, Gauhati High Court in November last year had asked the state government to conduct elections to the council within six months.

The government later sought an extension of the deadline till September 2. But again the government took permission of the court to further extend it till November 4. The state election commission has last week announced date of elections to two other autonomous councils — Mising Autonomous Council and Sonowal Kachari Autonomous Council (beginning on October 3) but it postponed elections to the RHAC citing law and order problems.

“The state government fears law and order problems, but conducting peaceful election is its responsibility,” Rabha said.

Violence claimed 24 lives in RHAC areas during the panchayat elections in February this year.

The non-Rabha groups have recently warned the government of similar violence if it goes ahead with council polls without excluding the villages with majority non-Rabha population from the council area.