NPP constitutes central election committee

SHILLONG: NPP has constituted the central election committee for the 2018 Assembly polls.
According to the notification, while party president WR Kharlukhi will be the chairman of the committee, the members include Phidelia Toi, Roynath D Sangma, Denan T Sangma and Jied Kurbah.
A party leader said on Thursday that national president Conrad Sangma has also convened a meeting of all the party leaders, including those from the districts and the blocks, on September 25 in Tura to discuss the preparedness of the party in the run-up to the polls.
NPP, which is seen as an alternate to the Congress in Garo Hills, is aiming at securing more seats in 2018 as the party has only two legislators, James Sangma and Nihim D Shira in the current Assembly.
Sources said the party was expected to get a few Congress legislators who are set to leave the party after several block Congress committees were dissolved by MPCC.
During the May 2014 Lok Sabha by-elections, following the death of sitting Tura MP PA Sangma, his son and NPP candidate Conrad Sangma won the seat by a margin of nearly two lakh votes.
The candidate from the ruling Congress, Dikkanchi Shira, wife of chief minister Mukul Sangma, lost in 23 out of 24 Assembly segments, including 13 of the 14 segments represented by Congress legislators.