Youth flavour in Congress list of candidates for Meghalaya Assembly election

Former Union Minister Vincent H. Pala, 11 former MLAs, 10 women and a former policeman-turned-extremist are among 55 candidates fielded by the party

Vincent Pala. | Photo Credit: V.V. Krishnan

The Congress on Wednesday announced a ‘youthful’ list of candidates for the Meghalaya Assembly election scheduled to be held on February 27.

More than 20 candidates figuring in the first list of 55 candidates are first-timers and 10, including former Minister Deborah C. Marak are women. The party is expected to name the candidates for the remaining five seats later.

According to the candidate list, State Congress president Vincent H. Pala would contest from the Sutnga Saipung Assembly constituency. A former Union Minister, he represents the Shillong parliamentary constituency in the Lok Sabha.

“We have presented a youthful list with 33 young candidates, many of whom are highly educated and have a good professional background,” Bobbeeta Sharma, Congress media coordinator for Meghalaya said on Thursday.

11 former MLAs

The list has a total of 11 former MLAs. They include Saleng A. Sangma, who resigned as the Nationalist Congress Party legislator and joined the Congress on January 23 and former Minister Sayeedullah Nongrum.

Mr. Sangma is contesting from the Gambegre constituency while Mr. Nongrum is the candidate for the Mahendraganj seat.

Former policeman-turned-extremist, Champion R. Sangma is also among the candidates. He is contesting from the Songsak constituency.

The Congress kept losing its legislators after becoming the single-largest party with 21 seats in the 2018 Assembly elections. It received a major jolt when 12 party MLAs joined the Trinamool Congress in November 2021.

The party was left with no MLAs in 2022 when five of them aligned with the National People’s Party-led coalition government, of which the BJP is a constituent. These five subsequently joined other parties.