Meghalaya Polls: Congress Releases First List Of 55 Candidates

Meghalaya Congress Candidates 2023: The first list of candidates was released on Wednesday following a meeting of the party's central election committee chaired by party chief Mallikarjun Kharge.

The Congress released its first list of 55 candidates for the upcoming Meghalaya assembly elections on Wednesday.

Vincent H Pala, the party's Meghalaya unit chief, has run for the Sungai Saipung (ST) constituency. Pala is Shillong's Lok Sabha Member of Parliament.

Saleng A Sangma, who resigned from the NCP and joined the Congress on January 23, has been nominated to represent the Gambegre (ST) assembly constituency.

The first list of candidates was released on Wednesday following a meeting of the party's central election committee chaired by party chief Mallikarjun Kharge.

On February 27, voting for the 60-member Meghalaya Legislative Assembly will take place in a single phase. The votes will be counted on March 2.

In Meghalaya, the ruling Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) is led by the National People's Party (NPP), which was recognised as the national party in 2019. The ruling National People's Party announced candidates for 58 seats in the 60-member Meghalaya Legislative Assembly last week. Conrad Sangma, the Chief Minister, and party supremo will run from the Garo Hills seat of South Tura. He is the current MLA for this seat. There are also six women candidates. Among the other candidates are a few defections from other parties.

Sangma will run from South Tura in the West Garo Hills district, while his deputy Prestone Tynsong will run from Pynursla in the East Khasi Hills district.

The Trinamool Congress has already announced 52 candidates for the state assembly election. According to the news agency IANS, the TMC's strength in the 60-member Assembly has dropped to nine after three of its MLAs left the party. The TMC leaders, on the other hand, claim that thousands of NPP and other party supporters, including some party leaders, have joined their party.

The NPP won 19 seats in the last elections, forming the MDA with the HSDP, UDP, PDF, and BJP, denying Congress a second term in the state.

Its main rival in the state is the TMC, led by former Chief Minister Mukul Sangma. Sangma, along with 11 other Congress MLAs, defected to the TMC last year, making it the state's main opposition party.

After winning 21 seats in the 2018 elections, Congress became the single-largest party.

(With Inputs From Agencies)