Mehtab’s name ‘finalised’; NPP silent

SHILLONG, July 3: The ruling National People’s Party (NPP) has zeroed down on the name of Chief Minister Conrad Sangma’s wife, Mehtab Chandee as the party candidate for the upcoming bye-election to the vacant Gambegre Assembly seat.
Sources from the party said Mehtab’s name was finalised from the initial list of eight candidates.
NPP working president Marcuise N Marak, while refusing to name the finalised candidate, said on Wednesday that the party went through many rounds of discussions to zero down on one name.
Marak said the party leaders have reached a consensus on the name and one more round of discussion will be held before the name is made public. He said initially there were eight names and while four of them opted out, the final name was decided from among the remaining four aspirants.
The Gambegre seat fell vacant after the resignation of Congress MLA Saleng A Sangma on June 10 following his election as the Lok Sabha MP from Tura.
The Election Commission is yet to announce the date for the bypoll. The bye-election has to be held within six months and therefore it could be held sometime within this year.