From Our Correspondent
JOWAI: Sitting Congress MLA Comingone Ymbon will have a tough battle on hands to retain his seat with three new faces all set to enter the electoral battle field to contest the forthcoming Assembly election in 2013 from 3-Raliang Assembly Constituency.
The three debutant candidates are Gerald Pasi, a known coal trader, Konstan Sungoh a contractor and Bok Dhar, all from Nangbah village under Raliang Assembly Constituency.
All the three contestants had earlier applied for UDP ticket for the Raliang seat, but after UDP election committee allotted the party ticket to Konstan Sungoh, Pasi and Dhar have decided to fight it out as Independents.
UDP’s Jaintia Hills district president S Mulieh informed that the party had decided to allot the ticket to Sungoh based on field study and suggestions of party observers deputed to Raliang. Pasi however claimed that the observers sent by the UDP election committee had initially recommended his name to the party for allocation of the ticket. “I fail to understand why the UDP allotted the ticket to another contestant despite my name being recommended by the observers,” he said.
“The faulty policy of allotting party tickets goes to show that the UDP is not serious about winning the Raliang seat in the 2013 election,” said a resident of Nangbah village who is supporting Pasi.
“My supporters want me to contest the election independently and I am heeding the advice of my supporters,” Pasi later said.
