SHILLONG, April 23: The Meghalaya Trinamool Congress said an unpredictable election has increased the possibility of the NPP’s ouster from the Tura parliamentary seat and a change of guard in Shillong.
The NPP’s Agatha K Sangma and Vincent H Pala of Congress hope to retain the Tura and Shillong seats respectively.
“The people showed their anger against the (NPP-led) government, making the election unpredictable,” former chief minister and TMC parliamentary party leader, Mukul M Sangma said on Tuesday.
He felt the silent voters may have voted for a change in both the seats.
The TMC had nominated former Cabinet minister and party leader Zenith M Sangma from the Tura seat. Zenith is Mukul Sangma’s brother.
Congress had nominated Gambegre MLA Saleng Sangma from Tura.
The NPP is worried that the support from the BJP may have been counterproductive in Tura because of the latter’s Hindutva tag.
While the contest in Tura was largely between the NPP and Congress, the electoral battle for Shillong was believed to have been triangular among Congress, the NPP, and the Voice of the People Party, which claimed its candidate would win by more than 1 lakh votes.
Mukul Sangma came down heavily on the state government for the lack of governance and breakdown in law and order.
He condemned the recent incidents of murder and gang-rapes in the state.
In March, the bodies of Ishan Singh and Sujit Dutta were found at Ichamati and Dalda respectively after the Khasi Students’ Union and other pressure groups organised an anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act rally at Ichamati.
On April 10, miscreants killed a daily wager identified as Arjun Ray in broad daylight at Mawlai Mawroh. The recovery of the charred bodies of three residents of Dolgoma village in Assam’s Goalpara district from a dense jungle in East Garo Hills followed.
In separate incidents on April 17, two minor girls from South West Garo Hills were sexually assaulted by a gang of miscreants. Another case of gang rape was reported in Shillong on Tuesday, although the crime was allegedly committed in September 2023.
