Congress will win all seats, claims Deborah
SHILLONG: As the final countdown for the long-pending elections to the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council (GHADC) begins, the four prominent political parties – Congress, BJP, NPP and UDP – have begun all out efforts to woo the voters.
While the results will be declared only on October 15, all the four parties have made claims that they would be able to win the maximum number of votes in the October 12 polls.
Speaking to The Shillong Times on Friday, Congress working president Deborah Marak asserted that the party workers were working really hard and campaigning was underway in full swing, even as she expressed confidence that Congress will win all the seats.
NPP spokesperson James Sangma said his party was expecting to win at least 16 out of 26 seats in which the party had put up candidates.
Sangma dismissed any advantage for the Congress on account of the lack of unity among non Congress parties, saying that pre-poll alliances often do not result in success.
On the other hand, UDP working president Paul Lyngdoh said his party was expecting ‘good performance’ in all the 19 seats and campaigning was going on in full swing.
He informed that UDP has an ‘agreement’ with some independent candidates in some seats and with NPP in at least two seats.
BJP general secretary Dipayan Chakraborty spoke of the anti-Congress wave in Garo Hills and added that it was up to the other parties to take the advantage.
Exuding confidence that the BJP would do well in all the five seats it is contesting, Chakraborty claimed that voters were being threatened and pressurized in Garo Hills to vote against the BJP.
A total of 587717 voters including 297236 males and 290481 females will decide the fate of 164 candidates who are contesting the October 12 polls.