Chief Minister Conrad Sangma’s wife Mehtab Chandee Sangma was nominated as the NPP candidate for the upcoming Assembly by-election from Gambegre constituency.
The announcement was made by Conrad Sangma who is also the NPP national president at a party gathering held at Gambegre yesterday.
It may be mentioned that Gambegre seat fell vacant after the resignation of sitting Congress MLA Saleng A. Sangma on June 10 following his election as Lok Sabha MP from the Tura parliamentary seat.
However, the Election Commission has yet to announce the date for the by-poll. The by-election has to be held within six months and therefore it could be held sometime within this year.
It may be mentioned that the NPP election committee on June 27 had shortlisted four names for the Gambegre ticket. Recently, the party decided to allot the ticket to Mehtab Chandee Sangma.
Moreover, the Congress buoyed by its landslide victory in the Lok Sabha polls from most Assembly constituencies in Garo Hills including Gambegre is examining the possibility of fielding Jingjang M. Marak as the candidate for the Gambegre by-election. Marak is a close aide of Saleng Sangma.
The Trinamool Congress is likely to put up Zenith Sangma’s wife Sadhiarani M. Sangma for the by-poll given that she had contested from the seat twice in the past and lost by a small margin.
Sadhiarani is the sitting MDC from Dengnakpara constituency. She had also contested the 2023 Assembly election from Gambegre against Saleng Sangma and lost by a margin of 2,871 votes.
Saleng secured 11,252 votes as against Sadhiarani’s 8,381 votes. NPP’s Rakesh Sangma bagged only 7,628 votes.
Meanwhile, State BJP vice president and Tura MDC, Bernard N. Marak, has expressed his readiness to contest the Gambegre by-polls if the party nominates him.
The Gambegre seat will be hard-fought over and the Congress will be desperate to keep it as defeat would mean that the Trinamool Congress would become the largest opposition party in the Assembly. With the vacancy, the Congress has four seats and the TMC five.
The BJP is also eyeing the constituency as it has no representative from Garo Hills in the Assembly, while the NPP also covets Gambegre as it would put to rest suggestions that it is losing popularity in Garo Hills following the drubbing in the Parliamentary election.
