Shillong, Mar 2: The Voice of the People Party (VPP) has wasted little time in selecting a candidate for the late Ricky Syngkon’s Lok Sabha seat, with Batskhem Myrboh becoming the frontrunner.
The VPP’s election committee submitted its recommendation to the state executive committee for approval, which is expected to be a formality.
Syngkon passed away on February 19 of a suspected heart attack. A by-election to fill the vacant Shillong seat will have to be held but there has as yet been no intimation of a date by the Election Commission. No other political party has so far announced their plans for the by-election.
The VPP’s move to name a replacement candidate in less than a fortnight after Syngkon’s untimely death may be aimed at getting ahead of the chasing pack.
While Myrboh has no past experience of being an elected representative, he has become fairly well known as the VPP’s chief spokesperson.
Like Syngkon was before he was elected in 2024, Myrboh is an academic teaching in North-Eastern Hill University (NEHU) here. Myrboh’s field is political science and he is an assistant professor at NEHU, according to the varsity’s website.
