After sounding the election bugle, BJP is also trying its best to make inroads in the state of Meghalaya. Due to this, in view of the assembly elections in Meghalaya to be held at the end of February, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday announced the names of its candidates for all the 60 seats in the state.
The names of the candidates were announced by the party’s national secretary Rituraj Sinha and Meghalaya unit president Ernest Mowry at a press conference held at the BJP headquarters. He said that for the first time in Meghalaya, the BJP would contest all the 60 seats alone.
The names were finalized at a meeting of the BJP Central Election Committee on Wednesday in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chaired by national president JP Nadda. All CEC members of the party including Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Defense Minister Rajnath Singh were present in the meeting.
Voting for the Meghalaya Assembly elections will be held on February 27. The last date for filing nominations is February 7. The counting of votes will take place on March 2. In the last assembly elections, BJP fielded its candidates on 47 seats and was able to win only two seats. Its candidates came second in seven seats and third in 12 seats.
Sinha said the people of Meghalaya are concerned about corruption and slow pace of development in the state as compared to neighboring BJP-ruled states. “The condition of the roads is bad, there are power cuts for hours, people have to go to Guwahati for treatment. Even today there is lack of basic facilities. Though central schemes are reaching Meghalaya, the pace of implementation is slow. He said, “The BJP has given the slogan of ‘strong Meghalaya’ this time because the people of the state have faith in Prime Minister Modi.”
Currently, Meghalaya has a coalition government of the United Democratic Party (UDP), People’s Democratic Front (PDF), BJP and the National People’s Party (NPP) of the Hill State People’s Democratic Party (HSPDP) and led by Conrad Sangamani. However, in view of the upcoming assembly elections, so far no political party has announced to contest the elections in alliance.
No party got majority in the last Meghalaya elections. The Congress emerged as the single largest party, winning 21 seats, but fell short of a majority. Konrad Sangam-led NPP came second with 19 seats. Six UDP members from the state reached the assembly after winning the elections.
Similarly, PDF won four seats in the state and BJP and HSPDP won two seats each. Following the election results, Sangma formed a coalition government with the BJP, UDP, PDF, HPPDP and an independent, and became the chief minister of the state.
Now it will be interesting to see what wonder BJP is able to do in Meghalaya elections. There is some more increase in the figures found last time or else the BJP’s sweep will be cleared in the upcoming elections.
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