Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate for West Shillong and state party president Ernest Mawrie said that a hoped-for saffron wave should give his side at least 10 seats in the incoming Meghalaya Assembly.
The BJP won just two seats in 2018 but, thanks to defections and the joining of one independent, the party went into today’s vote with six incumbents and had thrown everything it could to increase its standing in a Christian-majority state in which it has been historically hampered by its Hindu nationalist core.
“We have fielded 60 seats and we are positive that it is the BJP that will form the new government in the state,” Mawrie told Highland Post while also expressing confidence that he will win the West Shillong race. “I have visited all the polling stations under my constituency and I found out that the response of the people towards the BJP is positive and they want change and development in the constituency.”
Frequent visits of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his recent roadshow in Shillong have reassured voters that the BJP is not against minorities, he added.
West Shillong is a mixed ethnicity seat with many poor households that are plagued by the crisis of unemployment, the BJP hopeful said. The place is in need of a hospital, wider roads, marketplace and parking, among other things, he added.
