The National People’s Party (NPP) is confident that Samlin Malngiang will be able to win the Sohiong seat and add it to the party’s large kitty.
Sohiong will go to the polls on May 10, a few months after the rest of the state. Its election was deferred due to the death of former MLA and United Democratic Party (UDP) candidate HDR Lyngdoh on February 20, one week before the polls.
Today, cabinet minister Ampareen Lyngdoh of the NPP expressed confidence that Malngiang, the incumbent legislator, will hold on to his seat. Malngiang defeated HDR Lyngdoh in 2018 to win on a Hill State People’s Democratic Party (HSPDP) ticket. However, he defected to the NPP before the election.
“We have taken a review sometime back and the situation is very stable and there is no reason there should be instability in his (Malngiang’s) position,” Ampareen told Highland Post.
On the chance that sympathy votes for the UDP’s replacement candidate (who is HDR Lyngdoh’s nephew) will derail the NPP’s chances, she said, “We don’t discuss emotion but the ground realities and we do not talk about others but our own party.”
Meanwhile, Ampareen declined to say anything on the possibility of the People’s Democratic Front (PDF), a coalition ally, merging with the NPP.
On the controversial roster issue, she said that the government is studying the matter and will come up with suggestions and solutions to the fight over whether it should be applied prospectively to retrospectively in due course.
