Despite former Chief Minister Salseng C. Marak still with the Congress, the party has denied ticket to his son to contest the upcoming Assembly elections from Resubelpara.
The Congress has yesterday released its final list of candidates for the February 27 Assembly polls from the remaining five constituencies.
The five candidates are Jhanika Siangshai (Khliehriat), Arbiangkam Kharsohmat (Amlarem), Chireng Peter R. Marak (Kharkutta), Dr. Tweel K. Marak (Resubelpara) and Carla R. Sangma (Rajabala).
However, the decision to field Dr. Tweel K. Marak from Resubelpara has not gone down well with Salseng C. Marak and his supporters.
Salseng’s son Silman Sangma had earlier applied for Congress ticket to contest from Resubelpara which is a bastion of his father for so many years.
There are also allegations that the Congress leadership ignored the local party leaders by giving the poll ticket to Dr. Tweel K. Marak who belonged to the NCP.
Another problem for the Congress is in Kharkutta where it has allotted the ticket to Chireng Peter R. Marak who is the brother-in-law of Tura MP, Agatha Sangma.
Former MLA Omillo K. Sangma had applied for the party ticket from the constituency.
Recently, the Kharkutta Block Congress Committee had claimed that Chireng Peter R. Marak was not even a member of the Congress and as such cannot be a party candidate.
As far as Rajabala constituency is concerned, the Congress candidate Carla R. Sangma had contested the 2020 by-elections from the constituency as an independent candidate. However, he forfeited his security deposit after garnering only 253 votes and was placed in the bottom of the results.
Congress candidate from Amlarem, Arbiangkam Kharsohmat had also contested the 2021 by-elections from Mawryngkneng constituency as an independent candidate but lost badly securing only 214 votes and was placed at the bottom of the results.
Jhanika Siangshai, the Congress candidate from Khliehriat had earlier left the party to join the NPP. She returned to the Congress recently after being offered a ticket to contest the polls.
It may be mentioned that the Congress on January 25 had announced the names of 55 candidates for the 60-member Assembly.
