SHILLONG, MAR 5: Shattered by the resounding defeat in the Meghalaya Assembly elections, former chief minister Purno Sangma’s nascent party, the NPP, clearly is struggling to come to terms with the loss, oscillating between blaming the voting system and ascribing multiple reasons for it.
The NPP on Tuesday held a meeting t review the recently-concluded elections in which the party only managed to win two seats.
Talking to reporters after the meeting, leader of the opposition in the last Assembly and Sangma’s son Conrad said the time had come for the Election Commission of India to revert to the old system of ballot papers instead of using electronic voting machines to ensure free and fair elections. “We would are in favour of free and transparent election. Even if there is one per cent doubt, the election commission should take note of this and take corrective measures,” he said, while claiming that the efficacy of EVMs has been questioned throughout the country, not just in Meghalaya.
The junior Sangma, however, said that the party accepts the mandate of the people even though the results came as a surprise.“We have analysed (the results) in detail and will work harder in the future and come out stronger,” he pledged.
Conrad, of course, was defeated from the Selsella constituency by Clement Marak of the Congress, who polled 12004 votes against his 9897 votes. His elder brother James though fared better winning from Dadenggre. The other NPP winner was Nihim D Shira who retained the Songsak seat.
The party’s review meeting ascribed multiple reasons for the party’s poor showing. According to party president W. R. Kharlukhi, one of the reasons was that the NPP hardly had time to introduce itself to the people, given that it was formed only on August 24 last year. “We hardly had time to explain to the people about our party. That was the general feeling of the candidates,” said Kharlukhi, who resigned from his post following the heavy defeat suffered by his party. -By Our Reporter
+ There are no comments
Add yours