Unsurprisingly, Vincent H Pala has again emerged as the state Congress Party’s pick for Shillong MP.
Although the ultimate decision will be made by the party chiefs in Delhi, Pala’s candidature seems a given, especially as no strong alternative seems to exist in the Congress.
But will the same formula work in 2026 when it failed in 2024?
After all, his defeat was not a narrow one. Pala’s share of the vote crashed from 53.52 percent in 2019 to under 20 percent five years later, with a reduction of more than 2 lakh votes.
The Voice of the People Party has, for better or worse, shaken up Meghalaya politics with its anti-establishment message and candidates who have been (by and large) non-career politicians.
Unashamedly taking a leaf out of the VPP’s book is the National People’s Party, which has picked an academic in DR Lyngdoh Nonglait to compete with the VPP’s own scholar, Batskhem Myrboh.
Can Pala, who is known for being fabulously rich more than anything else, possibly be relevant in times like these?
Despite being an uninspiring choice, he did, at the state Congress Party announcement on Thursday, present reasons why the public might want to back him.
Pala is, after all, an experienced hand, having been in Parliament for 15 years. He painted the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party as communal and a threat to Meghalaya’s majority Christian population, while positioning the Congress as the only real force that can stand up to the Hindutva brigade nationally.
Against that it is hard to argue – the NPP is a BJP ally while the VPP, if it wins, will be a lone voice in a sea of hundreds of MPs. Neither Nonglait nor Myrboh have any experience of politics at all, which may be seen as a positive by many though it could also be a liability.
Ask Pala what were his achievements in Parliament in 15 years, however, and you might get a short list. He seemed almost completely focused on coal mining in his last years in Delhi – unsurprising as so much of his family’s wealth came through the black stuff.
For those voters looking for an alternative to the BJP, NPP and VPP, Pala is hardly an inspiring choice. But he may be the only alternative they get.
