THE CONGRESS released a list of 55 candidates for the upcoming Meghalaya Assembly elections on Wednesday night following the party's Central Election Committee meeting. Among those who have been fielded by the party are Shillong Lok Sabha MP Vincent Pala, one of only two Lok Sabha MPs from the state and the lone one from the Congress. Pala will be contesting from Sutnga Saipung constituency. After 12 out of 17 Congress MLAs switched over to the Trinamool Congress in 2021 and the remaining five deserted it for other parties in the run-up to the elections, the party — which was the largest Opposition party in the Assembly before November 2021 — is set to enter the elections without a single sitting MLA. However, last week the lone Nationalist Congress Party MP Saleng Sangma switched over to the Congress. He has been fielded by the party as the candidate from the Gambegre constituency. With the party trying to find its feet after losing a large section of influential leaders to desertions, most of the candidates being fielded by the Congress are fresh faces.
