SHILLONG, JAN 18: The United Democratic Party (UDP) has declared the name of five sitting legislators as its official candidates for the forthcoming Assembly elections after they formally joined the party on Wednesday.
These include two suspended Congress legislators – PT Sawkmie (Mawlai) and Mayralborn Syiem (Nongpoh), HSPDP legislator and cabinet minister Renikton Lyngdoh Tongkhar (Mawkyrwat), AITC legislator Shitlang Pale (Sutnga-Saipung) and Independent legislator Lambor Malngiang (Nongkrem).
Four of the five sitting legislators were welcomed and felicitated by the UDP president Metbah Lyngdoh at a function held in the presence of party leaders and supporters.
Sawkmie however could not attend the function due to the sudden demise of a family member.
The five have earlier tendered their resignation as members of the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly.
Addressing the occasion, Metbah said with the joining of the five MLAs, the UDP now has altogether 12 MLAs who will be contesting the upcoming elections.
“Many have questioned as to how many sitting legislators will win the election but I will tell you that as per the survey conducted, all the seven UDP legislators will win and the survey has also revealed that all the five legislators who just joined the party will also win the coming elections,” he said.
According to him, 30 to 40% of the sitting legislators will again win the elections.
He said so far the party has been able to declare as many as 40 candidates while adding “we are still examining the 20 remaining seats and we will soon come up with the next list of candidates.”
Metbah said that the party has done due diligence in selecting the candidates to ensure people are satisfied with the decision.
“If we hurt anyone I apologize we could not accommodate them since we have to take the right decision,” he added.
The UDP has denied ticket to its chief adviser and former deputy chief minister Bindo M Lanong who will be contesting from Nongkrem constituency.
The UDP chief also expressed confidence to cross the half-way mark and said, “If we get 30 plus seats we assure the people of the state to take up all pending issues.”
“People across the state are seeing UDP as the only alternative as they do not see hope in other political parties. If people want the UDP to lead the government then it is our duty as leaders of the party to fulfil this dream,” he said while asserting “Let us fulfil the dream of the hill state movement leaders to govern the state as per our own genius.”
Urging the people not to fear money power, Metbah said not all win elections due to money alone.
“However, we need money to contest elections even the Election Commission also allow us to spend upto Rs 20-25 lakh but money should not rule us,” he said.
Earlier in his speech, Renikton Lyngdoh Tongkhar said that today marks the 10 years of being associated with the UDP.
“In fact, I was with the UDP since 2013 and had ensured victory to the party in the 2014 MDC elections but due to political challenges, I was forced to take an HSPDP ticket to contest the 2018 MLA elections. But fortunately, the UDP had extended full support to my candidature in 2018,” he said.
Stating that he has nothing against the HSPDP, Tongkhar said that the only reason for him to quit the party was because he wanted to strengthen the UDP as the regional force in the state.
He however expressed regret that the objective to have a strong regional force has been defeated with the presence of too many regional parties.
“All want to strengthen the regional force but at the end we could see in the last 2018 elections, the UDP could get only 6 seats, PDF 4, HSPDP 2 and KHNAM 1. If our goal to have a strong regional force is not achieved then I am sorry to say that the regional parties will have a gloomy future in the state,” Tongkhar said.
He further expressed confidence that the UDP will increase its strength from 12 to 24 MLAs and will be able to lead the state in 2023.
Lambor Malngiang in his short speech said that it is high time that the people of the state should give UDP a chance to lead the government. “You have experienced enough with national parties from outside the state so give us a chance to bring a change and ensure overall development to the state,” he said.
He also requested the party to include the need for creation of a Meghalaya Regiment which will not only allow tribal to protect their own land but will address the unemployment problem and eradicate anti-social evils from the society.
Sharing his thoughts, Mayralborn Syiem said that the main reason for him joining the UDP was respecting the contribution towards the attainment of statehood.
“We are confident that the people of the state will give UDP a chance to lead the government in 2023. We need to take up pending issues like inclusion of Khasi language in the Eighth Schedule, resolving the border dispute and implementation of the inner line permit (ILP),” he added.
On the other hand, Shitlang Pale, who is a three-time legislator said that he quit the Congress due to too much of infightings within the party. However, since the AITC was a new party, people were not ready to accept it due to which he had decided to join the UDP, he said.
He expressed confidence that the people will vote the UDP to power and said, “People should not vote for money but should vote for development.”
Meanwhile, the UDP chief has also released the official web portal and election song of the party during the function.
By Our Reporter
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