TURA: The battle lines have been drawn between the Congress and the National People’s Party (NPP) for the upcoming election to the post of chief executive member in the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council (CEM) with candidates from both parties filing nominations on Thursday.
The face-off between Congress nominee Boston Ch Marak, a rebel NPP-elected MDC who defected to the Congress fold, and his rival, NPP’s Sukaram K Sangma, will be on July 18.
While Boston was accompanied by Congress MDCs and Kharkutta MLA Cherak W Momin, Sukaram was seen with NPP and BJP MDCs, including former CEM Denang T Sangma and Songsak MLA Nihim D Shira.
The decision taken by the NPP-BJP-GNC alliance to challenge the Congress for the post of CEM has taken many by surprise.
Following the collapse of the NPP alliance in the GHADC in April this year, the autonomous body had been under administrator’s rule. Boston, along with three others, had defected to the Congress camp pushing the NPP alliance to a minority and compelling the then CEM Denang T Sangma to tender his resignation before the passing of the interim budget in the council.
Last month, Boston claimed to have the requisite numbers to lead the new Executive Committee. Soon after, the Congress-led Government in the State sought lifting of the administrator’s rule in the GHADC to pave way for a new EC.
to the post of GHADC CEM in Tura on Thursday.
The Congress had expected the election to be a one-sided contest with the possibility of a ‘No-Contest’ win since it had claimed support of majority of the MDCs.
However, a late night meeting by NPP MDCs and its alliance partners in Tura on Wednesday appeared to have set the ball rolling for a two-way fight. Denang proposed the name of Sukaram K Sangma for the contest and it was seconded by BJP MDC Kurosh Marak of Dalu.
“The decision was unanimous,” revealed a source who attended the meeting.
Both Boston and Sukaram are two-term members (MDC) in the GHADC having won successive elections.
Boston was first elected to the GHADC from Nogorpara constituency in South West Garo Hills in 2009. He won that election as a candidate of the now defunct A’chik National Council (ANC).
In the same year, Sukaram contested from Rongrong in Resubelpara in North Garo Hills as an NCP candidate and won. He retained his seat in the 2015 GHADC elections as an NPP candidate.
Boston later joined NPP. While he went on to become the chairman of the GHADC after the NPP emerged as the single largest party and cobbled up a post-poll alliance with the BJP and the GNC, Sukaram was made Executive Member in the Denang T Sangma-led Executive Committee.
Later, Boston fell out with his cousin and NPP president Conrad K Sangma and rebelled against the party.