SHILLONG: The UDP’s loss became the Congress’s gain with the desertion of around 40 members on Tuesday.
The regional party lost its members from different units in West Shillong constituency to Congress’s Mohendro Rapsang, who is set to take on incumbent MLA Paul Lyngdoh in the 2018 Assembly elections.
The UDP leaders said they want change. “We came to the Congress because he (Rapsang) is the probable candidate for the Assembly elections,” one of the supporters told reporters. This came as a boost to the Congress candidate who said, “I have got a good chance of winning the elections since there are many new faces and supporters with me now.”
Rapsang said uplift of the poor and a better education system would be his agenda for the upcoming elections.
When asked if there are fears that the constituency may turn volatile in the ensuing elections, Rapsang said, “West Shillong is not volatile and it is a peaceful constituency.”
Though the 2018 poll battle in the constituency will be mainly between Lyngdoh and Rapsang, “other candidates may also be in the fray like in the 2013 Assembly elections”, he added.
The constituency in the 2013 Assembly elections witnessed a direct contest between Rapsang and Lyngdoh with the former losing by 481 votes.