By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Nov 24: As reported by The Shillong Times earlier, the ruling NPP on Friday nominated two women candidates — Cabinet Minister Ampareen Lyngdoh and sitting Tura MP Agatha Sangma — for the two parliamentary seats in Meghalaya.
Ampareen will contest the Shillong seat while Agatha will seek to retain Tura.
“I am happy to declare after getting the clearance of our national president Conrad K Sangma the candidates for the two constituencies for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections,” Deputy Chief Minister and NPP state president, Prestone Tynsong said.
He said the party had five to six aspirants for each seat. “The state election committee duly examined (the aspirants) and after consultations with members down to the polling booth level, the high command approved the two names,” he said.
When pointed out that the NPP could not manage enough seats in the Khasi-Jaintia Hills in the last Assembly election, Tynsong said: “If you analyse the vote percentage of the 2023 state elections, you will see that the NPP had the highest vote share followed by the UDP and Congress. The newly appointed office-bearers have been instructed to work hard at the village level.”
On the NPP fielding women candidates for both the Lok Sabha seats, he said, “Our priority is on the best candidate who has every possibility of winning. It does not matter whether the candidate is male or female.”
Tynsong said the NPP would request its MDA partners to support the party’s official candidates. “Why not support our candidates if they can?” he asked.
He downplayed the challenge Congress might pose for the NPP, reminding that his party had more than 50% votes in Tura.
While Agatha’s selection was on expected lines, Ampareen’s nomination and subsequent approval was not without its fair share of drama.
An NPP insider said that certain top leaders of the party, including Tynsong were in favour of roping in TMC state vice president George B Lyngdoh. However, this move was vehemently opposed by the “influential” Dhar and company who wanted to field former MLA, Dasakhiatbah Lamare as the NPP candidate for the Shillong seat.
At the same time, Ampareen came forward and projected herself as the party nominee for the Shillong seat, making the leadership’s task easier, as far selection of the candidate was concerned.
