Meghalaya: VPP Chief Blames Government for Setbacks in District Council Polls

CORRESPONDENT

SHILLONG: Voice of the People Party (VPP) president Ardent Miller Basaiawmoit has blamed the State government and district administrations for failing to ensure a free and fair District Council election, alleging that intimidation and lack of security at polling stations contributed to the party’s reduced vote share.

“ So, there’s a local factor also, and besides the local factor, there’s threats and intimidation to the people where the election is not being conducted like the MP and MLA elections. The MP and MLA elections was conducted by the Election Commission of India, so you understand the measures that the state machineries has to take, whereas in this election it is the state government that conducts elections. So despite the fact that we have registered those highly sensitive polling stations, no action has been taken by the district administration, not even a single police personnel was posted in those polling stations. That is the reason we could not secure or maybe the reason that our vote share has gone down in this District Council election,” Basaiawmoit stated.

Despite the challenges, he expressed satisfaction with the party’s performance, emphasizing the support VPP continues to receive in the Khasi-Jaintia region. “Obviously as a party, we are very happy to see that people in the Khasi-Jaintia region have reposed faith in us and accept all principles, ideology, and philosophy as a party, and that’s where we need to bring in a kind of clean politics, good governance.”

Responding to allegations from the National People’s Party (NPP) that VPP’s vote share had declined compared to the Lok Sabha elections, where the party swept all 29 District Council constituencies, Basaiawmoit dismissed the claim, citing electoral data. “I think it would be better if you check and cross-check the data. The data speaks clearly that we are still very much ahead. We have the highest number of vote shares in the Khasi Hills region, where our vote share is 37 percent and NPP is 25 percent. That means we are 12 percent ahead of NPP. In Jaintia Hills, NPP is having the highest vote share with just one percent more than us. They are having 32, and we are having 31 percent vote share. So comparing the vote share of the regional party, the VPP has secured the highest vote share even in this election. And as you know, we could not perform well in Jaintia Hills because of the reasons that I’ve explained. Had it been that the Jaintia people, the people living in Jaintia Hills, got the same opportunity like the people in Khasi Hills, we would have even captured the District Council in Jaintia Hills.”

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