Ex-PHE chief engineer to contest 2018 polls from Mawphlang

SHILLONG: Retired chief engineer of Public Health Engineering S.K Sunn, who was facing allegations of misusing the fund meant for Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, has decided to contest the 2018 Assembly elections from Mawphlang constituency.
A small committee, which has retired government officers, organised a public meeting at Sacred Grove in Mawphlang on Wednesday that saw a gathering of around 7,000 people who unanimously supported Sunn as candidate for the 2018 polls.
Sunn said though he did not have any intention to contest the election, it was because of public demand that he changed his mind.
The former PHE chief engineer said since the day he retired on December 31, around 300 people from the constituency thronged his residence till February 6 asking him to contest the election.
“I had told them that I have no intention to contest the election,” Sunn said.
However, the committee in the area decided to organise a meeting to seek people’s views from different villages of Mawphlang constituency on Wednesday.
“As a responsible citizen, my conscience will not allow me to say no to the voice of the public and I accepted their request,” he said, adding that the locals wanted change as there were several problems in the constituency, including poor road connectivity and market accessibility.
When asked if he would approach any political party for ticket, he said most of the people in the meeting more or less wanted him to contest the election as independent candidate but the call in this regard would be taken by the committee at a later stage since elections are still far away.
Last year, the Meghalaya Organisation against Corruption had alleged that Sunn manipulated the Swachh Bharat scheme to favour only a few villages in Mawphlang block and ignored due procedure.