Meghalaya: According to its president, Metbah Lyngdoh, as many as five legislators from various outfits in Meghalaya will join the United Democratic Party (UDP) on Wednesday.
Lyngdoh, who is also the speaker of the Meghalaya legislative assembly, told reporters that the party will release its third list of candidates on Wednesday. Elections are scheduled for March in the state, with polling locations to be announced soon.
“They will be joining the party the day after tomorrow (Wednesday). Then we’ll have the induction ceremony, and we’ll announce the names of these five legislators as our candidates,” Lyngdoh said.
Also Read: Assembly Elections 2023: Tripura to vote on February 16, Nagaland and Meghalaya on February 27
Renikton Lyngdoh Tongkhar of the Hill State People’s Democratic Party (HSPDP), Shitlang Pale of the Trinamool Congress (TMC), Mayralborn Syiem and PT Sawkmie of the Congress, and Independent MLA Lambor Malngiang are the five MLAs.
With these two resignations from the Congress party, the party’s representation in the Meghalaya assembly has been reduced to zero.
Despite being reduced to zero seats, the Congress was the single-largest party in the 2018 Meghalaya assembly elections, with 21 seats. In 2018, the UDP, which the five defecting MLAs are reportedly joining, won only six seats.
Meghalaya will hold assembly elections this year. Tripura and Nagaland are also holding elections in Northeast India this year.
The first round of assembly elections, which will take place in 2023, saw the Election Commission announce on Wednesday the dates for the elections for the Nagaland, Meghalaya, and Tripura assemblies. On February 16, the Tripura Assembly election of 2023 will take place, while February 27 will see voting in Nagaland and Meghalaya. Chief election commissioner Rajiv Kumar stated that the exam season was taken into consideration when setting the election dates. Women have always participated heavily in voting in all three of these states, according to CEC, who spoke at the first press conference of the year to announce the schedule of these three states.
