Defeat of common candidate
SHILLONG: The UDP general secretary and Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) consensus candidate for the Lok Sabha elections, Jemino Mawthoh said the MDA will take disciplinary action against the black sheep responsible for working against the common candidate.
Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday, Mawthoh said, “There will be a review meeting of the UDP and MDA to see that disciplinary action is taken against such black sheep.”
He was reacting to a question as to whether there was any division within the coalition over his candidature.
Mawthoh lost the Shillong Lok Sabha seat to Congress Vincent Pala catapulting him to a third term as MP.
He said the MDA is saddened and disappointed as the results were unexpected even as he got only 1 month to campaign for election.
He was supported by the uniting force of 4 regional parties such as the UDP, Hill State People’s Democratic Party (HSPDP), People’s Democratic Front (PDF) and independent MLA Lambor Malngiang.
When pointed out that the Congress candidate Vincent Pala garnered the margin of 1,52,000 votes, he said, “Though we lost, it is seen that the vote share of the regional parties has increased. Looking back to 2014, the vote share of UDP is more than 17 per cent.”
Mawthoh added that the vote share of UDP has increased to 34 per cent, which he said is a quantum jump.
“MDA’s vote share has increased,” he remarked although he rued that he couldn’t campaign to the remote parts of Khasi and Jaintia Hills.
Stating that he is a sponsored candidate of the MDA government, Mawthoh expressed gratitude to the people of the state, the chief minister, presidents of UDP, HSPDP, PDF, Independent MLA Lambor Malngiang, the MDCs and different party functionaries.