Shillong, Nov 17: The ruling National People’s Party (NPP) has decided to extend its deadline for application of party tickets for next year’s Garo Hills Autonomous District Council (GHADC) election.
NPP working president and cabinet minister Marcuise Marak today informed that the candidate selection process has been extended to November 30 due to the overwhelming response.
The party had originally set November 14 as the last date for submission but seeing that there were many requests coming in the NPP has now decided to extend the date of submission.
“And based on the applications, constituency wise, we’ll be having a series of meetings in the election committee and we will be consulting the district committees and to the block committees as well. And of course, the consultation with MLAs also will be there. So after that, we will forward it to the state committee and then further for the national committee,” Marak said, adding that the NPP hopes to complete the process by the second week of December.
When asked about the anti-incumbency factor, Marak acknowledged that anti-incumbency is present in the GHADC but the NPP has done many positive things for the people and this should reflect well come election time. Chief among these was the issue of pending salaries, which stretched on for years. The government’s decision to advance royalties to the council and also take on the burden of paying salaries from November should help the GHADC.
So far, the NPP has taken no decision on forming a pre-poll alliance. This will depend on the party committees.
The term of the current GHADC will end in April 2026 and elections are anticipated for February.
