Shillong, Oct 22: The BJP has declared the Meghalaya state party vice president and Tura MDC, Bernard N Marak as its candidate for the forthcoming bypoll to Gambegre LAC.
Following the declaration, the State BJP will have a meeting on Wednesday with its national secretary and national spokesperson of the BJP also in-charge Meghalaya, AK Antony to roll out strategies and road map ahead.
Confirming this, State BJP chief spokesperson, Mariahom Kharkrang said that the name of Bernard was selected from the list of three aspirants for the seat.
Kharkrang said with the declaration of the candidate, the BJP will now go all out for the campaigning.
He said all the units and wings of the party at the various stages have been activated.
Admitting that the electoral battle in Gambegre is a tough one with big names like Mehtab Chandee the wife of Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma, GHADC MDC Sadhiarani Sangma associated with it.
He,however, said that the BJP is ready to battle it out as its candidate Bernard is also an MDC and is popular amongst the masses besides the party also has over the years garnered a lot of support.
The candidates of all political parties are set to file their nominations for the Gambegre Assembly constituency, where the by-election will be held on November 13.
The seat was vacated by Saleng A Sangma of Congress after he had won from Tura Lok Sabha constituency in the last Parliamentary election.
GHADC MDC Sadhiarani Sangma, the Trinamool Congress candidate, is expected to file her papers on October 23.
Mehtab Chandee, the wife of Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma, will file her nomination papers as the National People’s Party candidate on October 24. The chief minister and other top NPP leaders will accompany her for the formality.
The Congress candidate, Jingjang M Marak, will also file his papers on October 24. He is close to the Tura MP.
The last date of filing nominations for Gambegre is October 25 and for the scrutiny of the papers is October 28.