Mawkhar-Pynthorumkhrah MDC, Pynshngain N. Syiem, who rejoined Congress recently, has said that Congress lost the three seats in the Assembly by-elections held last month due to the emergence of rebel candidates.
It may be noted that NPP won the by-polls in Mawryngkneng and Rajabala while its ally UDP bagged Mawphlang seat.
“The Congress lost the by-polls in the three constituencies because of rebel candidates who fought against the official party nominees. The other reason is that very few parties contested in the by-polls and the other is the money factor since the winning candidates belong to the ruling coalition,” Syiem told a group of reporters yesterday.
According to him, the situation would be different in general elections where all the parties will contest and fend for themselves.
Stating that the money factor will work only for the floating votes but not in areas where the Congress is strong, Syiem said, “If money factor plays such an important role then all the Congress candidates in the by-polls would have lost by huge margins and not get such numbers of votes.”
When asked about the infighting in Congress which was projected as one of the reasons for the defeat of the party in the by-polls, Syiem stated that this did not impact much in Khasi and Jaiñtia Hills even though it may have a small impact in Garo-Hills.
When asked about the Trinamool Congress that will be making its way into Meghalaya political arena, Syiem maintained that the emergence of new parties may have a small effect on a big well-organised party like Congress but will have a bigger impact on small parties in the State.
Stating that one of the problems in the State is lack of intellectual votes based on issues, Syiem said, “All the issues highlighted in the by-polls by the Congress had no impact because very few people understood the issues and corruption affecting the State unlike in big states like Delhi where people voted for the AAP under the leadership of Arvind Kejriwal because they understand the issues.”
Syiem maintained that the defeat of the party in Assembly by-election results in three constituencies will not have any impact on the upcoming general elections in 2023.
He said that Congress will still emerge powerful in 2023 because unlike the MDA people have realised that the previous Congress-led governments in Meghalaya handled and governed the State well despite various crises.
