SHILLONG, JULY 18: The United Democratic Party (UDP) today finally decided to field candidate for the upcoming Ranikor bye-election even as it appealed to the People’s Democratic Front (PDF) to support the party in winning the seat.
The decision was taken after a consultative meeting held with the PDF chairman Pynshngain N Syiem here on Wednesday.
Syiem, who is the former Mawsynram legislator and former KHADC chief, has been projecting himself as a common candidate for the Ranikor seat and has sought the support of the UDP.
Both the UDP and PDF are coalition partners in the NPP-led Meghalaya Democratic Alliance government.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, UDP general secretary Jemino Mawthoh said that the decision was taken after consulting the president Donkupar Roy and other party leaders and proper examining of the views and suggestions of the supporters from both the parties.
“We have decided to field Pius Marwein as the party candidate for the upcoming bye-election to the Ranikor seat,” Mawthoh announced.
He said this was after taking into consideration that Marwein, who unsuccessfully contested against former senior Congress leader Martin M Danggo in the Assembly polls held earlier this year, could managed to secure second place by getting nearly 9,000 votes.
On the other hand, the UDP general secretary said that the party felt that though Syiem, being a seasoned political leader, will not be able to cover the entire Ranikor, which has a vast area, due to paucity of time.
“Therefore, we appealed to Syiem and the PDF to support the candidate of our party. The constituency is lacking behind in term of development and there is need for unity among the political parties,” he said.
Mawthoh informed that the party would immediately send its letter for seeking the support of the PDF.
Expressing confidence that the UDP will win the Ranikor seat, the UDP leader further claimed that leaders of the different political parties including BJP, NPP and Congress have also come forward to extend their support to Marwein in a meeting held at Nongnah village.
“We have also spoken to the Hill State People Democratic Party (HSPDP) which is our partner in the Regional Democratic Alliance (RDA) and it has expressed support for Marwein’s candidature,” he added.
Asked, he said, “We want Syiem not to contest the bye-election. We respect him and appreciate his contributions but if he is willing to reconsider his decision, we have no doubt that we will win the seat.”
Meanwhile, Mawthoh said that the UDP is continuing in its effort for unification of the regional forces in the state
“We are still appealing to all the regional political parties to discuss not only about the need to merge but unification of regional forces in the state,” he said while stating Ranikor bye-election can be a step towards unification of the regional forces.
It may be mentioned here that Danggo, a five-time Ranikor MLA, has decided to seek re-election from the ruling National People’s Party (NPP) for retaining the seat. He had resigned as member of Meghalaya Assembly on June 21, after the government’s decision to upgrade Ranikor administrative unit into a full fledged civil sub-division, which was inaugurated recently.
By Our Reporter
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