SHILLONG, Nov 21: The United Democratic Party (UDP) is set to become the first party in the state to announce its first list of candidates for the 2023 Assembly polls on Tuesday.
Party sources informed that the UDP will declare the names of over 30 candidates on Tuesday.
The list is likely to include names of several sitting MLAs, MDCs and political greenhorns.
The source also said that the UDP’s second list of candidates would have the names of the sitting MLAs who are preparing to quit their respective parties to join the UDP.
As far as other political parties are concerned, the All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) has announced former chief Minister Mukul M Sangma as its chief ministerial candidate but is yet to reveal any details about the list of candidates.
The TMC had contested in eight seats in the Garo Hills in the last Assembly elections in 2018. This time the party, which is the lone opposition party in the state, is gearing up to contest in all the seats.
The ruling National People’s Party (NPP) is also delaying the announcement of its list of candidates, ostensibly because it is expecting several sitting MLAs from other parties to join its ranks.
Recently, NPP state president WR Kharlukhi had disclosed that the party has finalised its candidates in all the seats, barring two, and the announcement would be made only after the MLAs officially join the party.
Kharlukhi had also revealed that as many as three sitting NPP MLAs would not be given tickets. It is apparent that the NPP is labeling sitting MLAs from other parties as potential winners in some seats like Selsella and Raksamgre.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), confident of winning over 30 seats and forming the next government in Meghalaya, is gearing up to declare its list of candidates. Sure of a win, the saffron party is also planning to announce the name of its chief ministerial candidate in December.
The recent release of BJP vice president Bernard N Marak from jail, albeit on bail, seems to have revitalized the party which is eyeing an upset in the Garo Hills region at the cost of the NPP.
The Congress party, which has faced a downslide from a high of 21 MLAs in 2018 to zero representation in the Assembly, is facing a dilemma as far as naming candidates is concerned. It will be for the first time in Meghalaya’s electoral history that the grand old party will be fielding candidates for the Assembly polls sans any name of sitting MLAs.
Regional parties like the Hill State People’s Democratic Party (HSPDP) and the People’s Democratic Party (PDF) have been staring at a crisis with their more powerful allies in the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) – the NPP and the UDP – poaching most of their MLAs.
While the PDF is set to lose two of its four sitting MLAs, the HSPDP is set to go the Congress way with both its sitting MLAs seeking green pastures elsewhere.
