The cash strapped Congress party in Meghalaya today said that people of the State will not vote in the 2023 Assembly elections based on money power.
Speaking to media persons here today, State Congress president Vincent Pala said that Congress as a national party would fight the upcoming polls on the investment which the party has done in the past in terms of infrastructural development in the State.
“People will not look at money but at a party and a candidate. We will fight the election not on the basis of money like other parties. We will connect with the people through door to door meetings,” Pala said.
The Congress is confident that it will return to power in the state as people are dissatisfied with the ruling alliance led by the NPP, he claimed.
He also said that the State election committee of the Congress party will meet on December 29 to discuss its first list of 40 candidates.
Pala said the election committee will examine the names of the 40 candidates and recommend the list to the All India Congress Committee (AICC) for its final approval.
While declining to reveal the names, Pala said, “We will give you the names of the candidates and their bio-data after the meeting.”
Stating that Congress wanted to field candidates in all 60 seats, Pala said, “Our intention is to contest in 60 seats. We may fall short of that also. We don’t know.”
Exuding confidence that the party would perform well in the polls, he said that 16 sitting MDCs, ex-MDCs and former MLAs and also those who narrowly lost the last Assembly elections are contesting on Congress ticket this time while the rest of the candidates are new faces.
The Congress won 21 seats in the last Assembly elections. However, a few of them died and some defected to other parties reducing the strength to just 17 MLAs.
However, earlier this year, 12 party MLAs switched over to the Trinamool Congress. The remaining five MLAs were suspended after they supported the NPP-led Meghalaya Democratic Alliance. Two of them joined the ruling NPP earlier this week.
