Congress releases second list for Meghalaya polls, to fight all 60 seats

While all the five candidates declared on Saturday are fresh faces, the candidate from Kharkutta, Chireng Peter Marak, is Tura MP from NPP Agatha Sangma’s brother-in-law and had resigned from the NPP and joined the Congress only this month.

After 12 out of 17 Congress MLAs switched over to the TMC in 2021 and the remaining five deserted it for other parties in the run-up to elections, the party—which was the largest Opposition party in the assembly before November 2021—was 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, and he has been fielded by the party as a candidate from the Gambegre constituency which was declared in the first list.

In the meantime, the BJP is yet to declare its candidates. Meghalaya BJP Ernest Mawrie said that they are awaiting the approval of a central parliamentary committee of the party.

“While we have requested that they announce it immediately, we are expecting it on January 31. Whether it is declared now or three days later doesn’t make a difference because we are very strong organizationally,” he said.