SHILLONG: Former Rajya Sabha member Onward L Nongtdu has withdrawn himself from the race for the party ticket to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha from Shillong due to ill health.
This was informed by the State Congress chief DD Lapang here on Thursday.
Speaking to reporters after an Executive Committee meeting of MPCC, Lapang said Nongtdu decided to withdraw from the race on health ground.
Nongtdu was recently admitted to CMC, Vellore after suffering a mild stroke.
With this latest development, three contenders including sitting MP Vincent H Pala remain in the race. Two other aspirants are former Assembly Speaker Charles Pyngrope and John Kharshiing.
Referring to Tura parliamentary seat, the MPCC chief informed that out of the nine tickets aspirants, only eight are in the race. The party had rejected one application as the applicant was not a member of Congress.
On upcoming elections to the three Autonomous District Councils (ADCs), Lapang said that the party has not taken any decision on candidates since the delimitation of the constituencies is yet to be completed.
“We have constituted a committee in each of the ADCs to star the ground work,” he said adding that the committee in the KHADC, GHADC and JHADC would be headed by Prestone Tynsong, Zenith Sangma and Gilbert Sten respectively.
