SHILLONG: A day after conceding defeat to the Purno Sangma led NPP Chief Minister Mukul Sangma on Friday asserted that the Congress will sit in the opposition in the Garo Hills Autonomous District Councils (GHADC).
“I have conveyed to all my colleagues, party functionaries, party president and also the AICC to allow our MDCs to function as an effective opposition in the GHADC,” the chief minister said.
With the Congress deciding not to contest formation of the EC, the NPP is all set to form the new EC with the support of the GNC, BJP and Independents.
Admitting the defeat of the Congress, the chief minister attributed the party’s poor performance to the anti incumbency factor and the prevalence of ‘rival’ candidates.
“We had to give the MLAs the luxury of choosing their own MDC candidate. It should have been the effective endeavour of the MLAs to ensure that there was no rival candidate. Rival candidates means you are already dividing your party votes, you are also dividing your well wishers,” he said.
Referring to the vote polled in Tura, the chief minister pointed out that the victory margin was very small.
“Votes have been split vertically amongst five or six candidates. Everywhere it is like this because there were a lot of rival candidates,” the chief minister said.
Reacting to the good show of the NPP under the leadership of Purno A Sangma, the chief minister said, “A leader of that stature, who had been promoted by the Congress in the past while he was in the party, projected him as an undisputed leader. That particular impact remains.”
Asked about the BJP’s win on one seat, he asserted that he would ensure that the BJP does not get even one seat in the 2018 election in the entire State.
Thanking the people for coming out to exercise their franchise despite protests against participation of non tribals and threats from anti national elements, the chief minister said according to 1951 Rules as far as the GHADC is concerned, non tribals can exercise their franchise and have been participating in the elections.
“But in this election, the issue was raised only after the announcement of the elections which was a design to derail the whole process of election. The inputs suggested that the disruption was selective and there have been instances where people could not come to polling stations,” Sangma said.
“The commitment of the government is to ensure that Meghalaya do not become a safe haven for anti-national elements and to strengthen the security apparatus in the most difficult areas so that criminals do not have their own field day,” he asserted.
