The Hill State People’s Democratic Party (HSPDP) will field former MDC Sraly Rashir to contest the upcoming district council election from Mawshynrut constituency.
The party also announced Phinda Warjri, elder sister of cabinet minister Shakliar Warjri, as a candidate for the Pariong constituency and journalist Starfing Pdahkasiej for the Mawsynram constituency.
Rashir was a former Member of the District Council (MDC) during the 2004–2009 and had then represented the Congress party.
The HSPDP has now declared 11 contenders to run the Khasi and Jaintia Hills district council elections to be held on February 21.
Party president KP Pangiang stated that the third and final list of candidates will be released soon.
Stating that HSPDP is one of the oldest parties in the state, he said that they will continue to fight on the issues that they have always been talking about. “Our idea is focused on persisting and sustaining the ideologies of the past and to fight for our indigenous rights to protect the land and borders and to improve the prevailing age-old customary and traditional governance and adjudication,” Pangiang added.
He mentioned that the party stands to strengthen the power of the ADC under the Sixth Schedule areas and to safeguard the customary practices, law, traditional heads, land tenure system and others.
“Since its inception, the HSPDP have been fighting for the district council, especially those elakas falling under the disputed areas with Assam. We will put forward our demand from the state government to resolve the remaining six areas of differences since the elakas are under the guardianship of the district council,” he said.
According to him, the party will move the state government to ensure all these elakas should be made part and parcel of the state of Meghalaya.
