By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: HSPDP candidate from Mawthadraishan, Dr Fenela L Nonglait on Friday blamed the use of money power and ignorance of the people as the main reasons which led to her defeat in the 2013 Assembly polls.
Dr Nonglait who lost to UDP candidate Brolding Nongsiej by a margin of 424 votes was confident to emerge victorious in the recent election as per the party’s analysis. However, she claimed that her votes mostly from Mairang area were lost in the last hours of the polling day.
“Money power played a big role in the recent elections, and I have seen it with my eyes that money was distributed by my opponents to the people, an amount ranging upto Rs 50,000”, Dr Nonglait said adding that there were people from Mairang rim area who called her up and confessed that they had fallen prey to bribery.
President of the HSPDP Mawthadraishan circle Tuberlin Lyngdoh said that prior to the elections, the UDP candidate had himself confessed that he will spend over Rs 2 crores in the elections, “However, the actual amount spent by him is not known, but we do know that the amount had exceeded the Rs 2 crores admitted by him”, he added.
Meanwhile, stating that her party stands for clean politics, Dr Nonglait said that all through the elections she had neither encouraged bribery nor corruption. “I have not gone astray by being involved in dirty politics, by buying off the voters to acquire a seat in the legislative assembly”, she said.
Reacting to a query on whether she will contest for MDC elections, Dr Nonglait said “I planned to, but that depends on the party’s decision.”
Extending her gratitude to the people of her constituency for their support, Dr Nonglait said that the outcome, though, was disheartening to her and to her supporters, yet she realized that the victory is hers as despite many efforts by her opponents, money could not buy the other 7000 votes that she received.
She also informed that the HSPDP Mawthadraishan circle will bring out a quarterly newspaper titled ‘Khubor Mawthadraishan’ which is still undergoing a registration process. “We will include articles of intellectuals from the area to highlight on various issues”, she said adding that she will continue to spread awareness to the people on various issues pertaining to the state and its people.