SHILLONG, Nov 20: The Voice of the People Party’s (VPP) North Shillong unit has dismissed social media reports claiming that the party has accepted the State Election Committee’s (SEC) decision on candidates for the Mawkhar-Pynthorumkhrah and Jaiaw constituencies.
The SEC had decided to allot the party ticket to Strong Pillar Kharjana from Mawkhar-Pynthorumkhrah and Denzil Raynard Che from Jaiaw constituency. However, North Shillong MLA Adelbert Nongrum expressed dissatisfaction with the decision to field Kharjana in Mawkhar-Pynthorumkhrah, as Kharjana had contested from Jaiaw in the previous election.
In a statement on Wednesday, VPP North Shillong vice president Shngain Syiemlieh clarified that party members met to discuss the misleading social media reports regarding the ticket allocations for the two constituencies.
He explained that the November 18 meeting of the party’s constituency committee, held at Jaiaw Pdeng Community Hall, was convened via the party’s WhatsApp group to deliberate over the SEC’s decision. All attendees of the meeting had signed an attendance sheet, which later became a source of controversy.
“It was claimed that everyone who signed the attendance sheet accepted the SEC’s decision, which is not true. Many members are unhappy that the attendance sheet was illegally circulated on social media,” Syiemlieh said.
The VPP North Shillong vice president added that several members stressed the need for further deliberations on whether to accept or reject the SEC’s decision. Some even suggested that the matter should be discussed in a general meeting to gather the opinions of all party members in the constituency. “But the chairman and other leaders did not entertain these suggestions, stating that the matter could not be delayed any further,” he said.
Syiemlieh expressed surprise that half of the members who attended the November 18 meeting opposed the SEC’s decision. “Despite this, it was falsely claimed on social media that everyone who signed the attendance sheet endorsed the ticket allocations for the two constituencies,” he added.
