Cabinet min files her nomination for the Shillong seat
By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, March 22: Announcing her desire to represent Shillong in the Lok Sabha, Health Minister and National People’s Party candidate Ampareen Lyngdoh on Friday filed her nominations for the April 19 polls.
She claimed there is no anti-incumbency factor against her or her party.
Accompanied by the NPP top brass, her family, and supporters, Lyngdoh marched from her residence at Laitumkhrah to the DC’s office to submit her papers.
On the way, she and her supporters paid tributes to her father, the late Peter G. Marbaniang, a former Lok Sabha member, at the Laitumkhrah junction. She then attended a meeting at the NPP office before going to the DC’s office.
Her candidature was proposed by Deputy Chief Minister and NPP leader, Sniawbhalang Dhar.
After filing her nomination, Lyngdoh told reporters that if she is elected, she would create bridges between the people of the state and the Centre. “I will raise the pending issues of the state,” she said.
Asserting that she has gained adequate experience after representing her Assembly constituency five times as an MLA, she said the support from Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma, the council of ministers, and the MDA partners will see her through the electoral battle.
Lyngdoh is pitted in a multi-cornered fight against three-time Congress MP Vincent H. Pala and two first-timers – the VPP’s Ricky AJ Syngkon and the RDA’s Robertjune Kharjahrin, besides some independents.
“The NPP is way ahead in the race because it served the people of the Shillong parliamentary constituency,” she said, adding that the party has prepared a blueprint to take Meghalaya forward.
She defended the launch of a slew of schemes ahead of the polls while refusing to be critical of her rivals. “I know what I need to do and we will give our best,” she said.
NPP state president Prestone Tynsong said the party will not rest till April 19 to ensure it wins both the Shillong and Tura seats. “All the party leaders are on the ground and they are visiting every polling station to convince the people to vote for the party,” he said.
Congress candidates have held the Shillong Lok Sabha seat since 1998, invariably by a big margin.
Tynsong said the NPP will turn the tables on Congress this time, pointing out that his party did not field any candidate for the Shillong seat in 2019. “We won the Tura seat by a thumping majority last time. We will win both seats this time,” he added.
The Shillong constituency is made up of 36 Assembly segments spread across seven districts of the Khasi-Jaintia Hills and Ri-Bhoi.