By Lamphrang Nongspung
As five candidates wrestle it out from the newly delimited Nongthymmai constituency, Assembly Speaker and Congress candidate Charles Pyngrope seems to be heading for a duel with UDP’s Jemino Mawthoh for the seat.
Despite earlier reports of Mawthoh gaining rapid ground in the constituency, the emerging trend indicates that Pyngrope could have a slight edge over his UDP rival.
With only two days to go for the polls, there is a general feeling in the constituency that the Assembly Speaker may woo a large chunk of the 7000 plus non-tribal votes in the constituency.
It may be mentioned that the number of non-tribal voters doubled in the constituency following delimitation which put RR Colony from the Pynthorumkhrah constituency under Nongthymmai.
It is estimated that RR Colony has over 3000 non-tribal voters and Pyngrope, who had done his homework pretty well, convinced sitting Pynthorumkhrah legislator AL Hek to campaign for him in the locality.
Considering that the area has been a Hek stronghold in the last three Assembly polls, the Congress candidate could notch up around 80 per cent of the votes in RR Colony. Another major boost to Pyngrope’s campaign could be the fact that areas like Nongrah and Lapalang, which have over 5000 votes, have passed over to the newly delimited Nongthymmai constituency from the previous Sohryngkham constituency, where the Speaker is the sitting MLA.
Moreover, the UDP has suffered a kind of setback with sitting MDC Latiplang Kharkongor deciding to leave the party and support the HSPDP candidate instead.
Kharkongor who lost the race for the UDP ticket to Mawthoh was initially seen to be aggressively campaigning in favour of the Congress candidate.
However, despite all this, Mawthoh is just fractionally behind in the race and retains the capacity to swing the contest in his favour.
Interestingly, the UDP candidate is being supported by former Congress leader RG Lyngdoh who is also campaigning for him.
It is believed that Lyngdoh still commands respect of the people in areas like Lumiawblot, Nongrim Hills and Nongshilliang which fell under the previous Laitumkhrah constituency of which he was the MLA.
While the brother is campaigning in favour of the UDP candidate, sitting Laitumkhrah legislator Ampareen Lyngdoh has not done the same to help fellow party man Pyngrope to garner some vital votes from the respective areas which are estimated to have over 7000 votes.
Mawthoh also seems to enjoy support of the youth and womenfolk in the constituency.
As per the survey, the UDP candidate has an edge as far as the tribal votes are concerned. However, Mawthoh’s challenge would be to garner the support of a substantial number of non-tribal people residing in the constituency.
As per the trend here, the non-tribal votes have mostly gone in favour of the national party.
The presence of people from Hmar and Mizo communities in the constituency also makes the poll outcome uncertain for Mawthoh. In the past, majority of these people have voted in favour of the Congress and there is no major indication of a shift in allegiance this time round.
Meanwhile, HSPDP candidate, B Syiem is learnt to have a decent support base in Pokseh. The candidate, however, lacks desirable reach in several other parts fo the constituency.
As per the survey, Ehkupar Nongrum of the BJP and Manosha Warjri of KHNAM are also lingering behind in the contest. However, the true picture will come to fore only on February 28 when the results for the polls will be declared.