Mawrie may contest from West Shillong

SHILLONG, Sep 11: State BJP president, Ernest Mawrie may contest the 2023 Assembly elections from the West Shillong seat.
According to sources, Mawrie, who had contested the last elections from Nongthymmai constituency, is testing the waters of West Shillong and North Shillong seats but his focus is more on the West Shillong seat.
“He started the groundwork by distributing COVID-19 relief materials in West Shillong,” a source said.
The source also said that nothing has been finalised yet but discussions are on, adding, steps are being taken in that direction and it is matter of time before it is made known.
The West Shillong seat has a sizeable number of voters inclined towards the BJP.
The party has never won from the seat. Prior to its entry, the fight has always been between the Congress and the United Democratic Party.
Different frontal organizations of the BJP are active in the constituency, which is currently represented by Mohendro Rapsang of the Congress.
The BJP, which has two MLAs in the state, is trying hard to fare well in the 2023 polls by growing at the expense of the Congress.
Party national general secretary Arun Singh had recently exuded confidence of wiping out the Congress from the state by winning from the seats currently held by the grand old party. Senior leader AL Hek had also claimed that many sitting MAs approached the BJP to contest on its tickets.
The BJP had won from South Shillong, which is represented by Art and Culture Minister Sanbor Shullai, and Pynthorumkhrah constituency, represented by Hek, in the last elections.
The party, which had grabbed two seats out of the 29 in the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council polls, is optimistic about winning eight to ten seats from the Garo Hills region in the next Assembly elections.