Meghalaya Chief Minister Files Nomination, To Contest From South Tura Seat

Meghalaya Chief Minister and National People's Party (NPP) national president Conrad K Sangma today filed his nomination papers in Tura for the upcoming Assembly election that will take place later this month. 

Mr Sangma filed his nomination before the Returning Officer of 51-South Tura and Additional Deputy Commissioner, Saljong R Marak, at Tura.

Before filing his nomination, Mr Sangma visited his father's grave and was accompanied by his wife in Tura. Conrad Sangma's father, PA Sangma, was the former Chief Minister of Meghalaya, he died in March 2016.

"There is a positive wave for the National People's Party, and the opposition is disintegrating day by day," the Chief Minister told reporters.

 "In this political scenario, the trend shows that the NPP is heading towards getting an absolute majority, and we are confident about it," he added. 

When asked about issues his party is contesting elections on, Mr Sangma said, "We are moving ahead with the development work that we have done in the last five years, and the overall work that has happened in different sectors. The foundation has been laid, and it is time to take things forward to the next level and continue its importance to ensure that we'll be able to achieve those goals." 

"The only thing I said was that Trinamool Congress is a party that is out of West Bengal, and that's a fact. There is nothing wrong with that," Mr Sangma responded to the Trinamool Congress leader's allegation of making racial comments.

Trinamool Congress (TMC) is an "outsider party and it's based on an analogy where Mamata Banerjee herself said in the last West Bengal elections that BJP and other national parties are outside parties," he added.

"If we apply the same idea to Meghalaya, then the TMC is an outside party. There is nothing racial about it," Mr Sangma said.

Conrad Sangma is seeking a re-election from the South Tura seat, which he won after being elected as the Chief Minister of Meghalaya in the bye-election in August 2018.

He received 13,656 votes and defeated his nearest Congress rival Charlotte W Momin by a margin of over 8,400 votes.

The last date for filing nominations for the Meghalaya elections is February 7. The scrutiny of nominations will be done on February 8 and the last date for withdrawal of nominations is February 10. The voting will take place on February 27, and results will be declared on March 2.