From CK Nayak
New Delhi: The All India Congress Committee (AICC) has appointed observers for the forthcoming Assembly election in Meghalaya which is hardly three months away.
The observers, mostly from neighbouring Assam, will visit different constituencies and take stock of the position of the aspiring candidates, AICC sources said here on Sunday, adding that as of now they will concentrate on constituencies where there is more than one aspirant with strong claims to the party ticket.
After the appointment of observers, the AICC as a next step will form the screening committee which will go through the list prepared by the MPCC and vetted by the observers, the AICC sources added.
The AICC has already formed such committees in two other poll-bound Northeastern states – Nagaland and Tripura – which are due for elections along with Meghalaya, sources informed.
The State Congress which hopes to improve its current tally in the 2013 Assembly polls is suffering from the problem of plenty when it comes to number of candidates vying for Congress tickets.
First delimitation and then dissidence has added to more than one strong aspirant in many seats. Such candidates include not only sitting MLAs but also present and former ministers and parliamentary secretaries. The problem seems to be more acute in Garo Hills where as many as three Independent MLAs, who have joined Congress after 2008, will vie for the ticket against the party candidates.
Different factions within the Congress may also put up dummy candidates or support a rival candidate in a clandestine way to defeat the other during the election. Some powerful candidates who do not get the party tickets may also use the same strategy.
The Congress at present has 28 legislators in the House and both Chief Minister Dr Mukul Sangma and party president DD Lapang are hopeful that the party would be able to cross the figure of 30 in the 60-member House to form the government on its own after the 2013 elections.
Both have claimed that this time history will be created in the hill state when the party will get majority on its own.
