Gambegre by-poll set for 4-corner contest as BJP joins fray

Ending weeks of speculation, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) announced that Tura MDC and state party vice-president Bernard N Marak will be its candidate for next month’s Gambegre by-election.

Following the declaration, the state BJP will have a meeting tomorrow with its national secretary and national spokesperson, AK Antony, to roll out the strategies and roadmap ahead.

Confirming this, state BJP chief spokesperson Mariahom Kharkrang said that Marak’s name was selected from a list of three aspirants for the seat.

Kharkrang said with the declaration of the candidate, the BJP will now go all out to campaign for him. He said all the units and wings of the party at the various stages have been activated.

The BJP, as has become the norm for the party, has declared its candidate quite late in the process, with rivals the National People’s Party (NPP), Congress Party and Trinamool Congress (TMC) all having already picked their runners.

Kharkrang admitted that the electoral battle in Gambegre is a tough one, with big names like the NPP’s Mehtab Chandee (the wife of Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma) and TMC’s MDC Sadhiarani Sangma (sister-in-law of former Chief Minister Dr Mukul Sangma) in the running.

However, he added that the BJP is ready to battle it out as its candidate is also an MDC and is popular amongst the masses. Marak has not hidden his desire to be the party’s candidate in Gambegre and has undertaken several visits to the constituency since its Assembly seat became vacant following the Congress’s Saleng Sangma’s election as Tura MP earlier this year.

Candidates will be filing their nomination papers for the November 13 by-poll in the coming days. Sadhiarani is expected to do so tomorrow. Chandee will file hers the day after that along with the Congress’s Jingjang M Marak.

The last date of filing nominations is October 25 and scrutiny of the nominations will take place on October 28. The date for withdrawal of nominations is October 30. Results will be declared on November 23.