Shillong seats: NPP finds no takers

From Staff Correspondent

Shillong, Nov 2: Notwithstanding its assertion that it will get a majority in the upcoming State Assembly elections, the tiolist People’s Party (NPP) has not found one single winble candidate for the four constituencies in the heart of Shillong. 

Confiding this, NPP State president WR Kharlukhi told The Sentinel on Thursday that it is a fact that the party has not got applicants for the three constituencies in the State Capital. And the lone candidate who has applied from Shillong North constituency is already being considered as a losing horse, hence ticket would be denied, he added.

“I am openly telling you this because our target is to get a majority and only those that tick the winble box will be given the NPP tickets,” explained Kharlukhi, even as he added that the current political dymics will determine allotment of party tickets.

Without an iota of doubt, Kharlukhi sees the party’s chances in the capital city as bleak, yet he maintained that there could be developments that could make the NPP field a minimum of 50 candidates in the State.

According to him, there are already applicants for the party’s tickets from 23 of the 24 Assembly segments in the five districts of Garo Hills. In Khasi-Jaintia Hills, there are constituencies that have not got a single applicant.

However, the NPP State president said, “While four Congress legislators and two Independent legislators are biding time to complete the formality, there are constituencies that we will not field candidates just for the sake of having one.”

The NPP has boasted that it will win 15 seats from Garo Hills and another 18 from Khasi-Jaintia Hills, a figure that should easily eble the party to form the government.

However, there are constituencies with more than two aspirants that can cause the party dearly, should the deprived aspirant turn rebel.

But the NPP president was also firm in saying that the Congress party will experience the worst drubbing in the forthcoming elections.

Kharlukhi’s statement came a day after Meghalaya Chief Minister Mukul Sangma said the Congress will be back in the saddle after the 2018 Assembly polls.

Besides, the BJP and the UDP-HSPDP combined have also iterated that the Congress will have to be shunted out and will be shunted out after years of misrule.