SHILLONG: Regional parties either as a combined force or individually, did not make much impact in the past Lok Sabha polls.
Election history reveals that while there were attempts by the regional parties in the past to field common candidates to win from Shillong Parliamentary Seat, such an attempt was rare as far as Tura seat was concerned.
A serious attempt to field common or consensus candidates was made in 2004, when the four regional parties came together and formed the Regional Parties Alliance (RPA).
The idea was mooted after the UDP candidate, SD Khongwir, lost to P R Kyndiah in 1999 by a narrow margin.
The RPA candidate in 2004 was former minister and North Eastern Hill University mathematician S Loniak Marbaniang.
Marbaniang contested as Independent with the support of UDP, Meghalaya Democratic Party (MDP), HSPDP and KHNAM, who were part of the Congress-led government then.
The BJP, however, did not support the idea of a common candidate and fielded its own.
In the contest, Marbaniang secured 1,19,162 votes while the winner, P R Kyndiah of the Congress, polled 1,90,058 votes.
BJP candidate Sanbor Swell Lyngdoh got 58,560 votes.
In 2014, though there was no understanding among the regional parties, an umbrella body christened People’s Candidate Forum was formed supported by a section of HSPDP members and KHNAM.
UDP fielded Paul Lyngdoh while the BJP candidate was Shibun Lyngdoh.
However, Congress candidate Vincent Pala emerged victorious.
Earlier in 2009, Pala had defeated John Kharshiing who contested from UDP but without much support from other regional parties.
The only time the regional parties won were in 1977 (H S Lyngdoh of HSPDP) and in 1983 (BR Kharlukhi) — both from APHLC.
This time, whether the regional combine comprising NPP, UDP, HSPDP, PDF and others will succeed will be revealed only on May 23.
