Shillong, Mar 6: There were strong hints made today that Vincent Pala will seek to reclaim the Shillong Lok Sabha seat at the forthcoming by-election.
Senior figure in the state Congress Party, Manuel Badwar, suggested that the party should consider fielding an experienced leader for the upcoming by-poll.
Speaking to reporters, Badwar said the Congress has not yet held detailed discussions on the matter and that the process of finalising a candidate will take some time. Without directly naming anyone, he hinted that a seasoned leader would be better suited to represent the constituency in Parliament.
With only around three years left in the current Lok Sabha, sending a newcomer at this stage may not be ideal. A first-time MP, he noted, would need time to adjust to the functioning of Parliament in New Delhi and build the necessary networks before being able to effectively raise issues concerning the state.
Pala would seem to meet the experience quotient that Badwar was talking about. He was a three-term MP before being unseated in a spectacular election win for the Voice of the People Party (VPP) in the 2024 general election. The VPP’s Ricky AJ Syngkon won an absolute majority of votes, while Pala’s vote share crashed from 53.52 percent to under 20 percent as he shed more than 2 lakh votes. Syngkon’s sudden death last month has led to the need for a by-election.
Badwar emphasised that the selection of the candidate must be done carefully, given the importance of key pending issues affecting the state, including the demand for the Inner Line Permit (ILP) and the inclusion of the Khasi and Garo languages in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution.
He alleged that the government at the Centre, led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), is unlikely to take decisive steps on these demands. According to Badwar, the new MP will have the responsibility of engaging with other parliamentarians and coalition partners to explain the significance of these issues for Meghalaya.
“We have to start working the moment the MP is elected. Someone who already has experience and networking ability will be able to hit the ground running,” he said.
The VPP has already proposed its spokesperson Batskhem Myrboh as its candidate for the by-election, though the final decision is yet to be approved by the party’s state executive committee.
Both the National People’s Party (NPP) and BJP have also indicated that they intend to field candidates for the by-poll.
