Congress chief and Shillong Member of Parliament Vincent H Pala on Thursday said the party is ready to face the upcoming Lok Sabha and MDC elections, slated to be held next year.
Speaking to reporters, Pala said, “We are ready to face the election whether it is going to be held in February or whether it is going to be held at any time. This will all depend on the state government how to go about it.”
He was attending the State Youth Congress Convention organized by the Meghalaya Pradesh Youth Congress (MPYC) here.
He said the party will also be writing to all the blocks to speed up the process of sending their recommendations as far as candidates for the upcoming elections to the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council and Jaintia Hills Autonomous District Council are concerned.
“The process will start from next Monday. The process actually starts in November and list will come up in December and we will declare the candidates once the elections are being declared,” Pala said.
He said there is no change and that the state election committee (SEC) and district election committees (DECs) are intact and will soon decide on the candidates.
He however said that the process for selection of candidates will be the same for MP and MDC elections.
Asked that some MDCs of the party are likely to join other political parties, Pala however said, “I don’t know because the Mairang MDC did attend the party meeting (held recently). I cannot say if someone will join (other parties) because there is no anti-defection (in the district council).”
“I cannot say if one or two will leave the party but the fact is that many have also called me to join the party ahead of the elections,” he claimed.
He also said that there are many leaders from both Khasi-Jaintia Hills and Garo Hills region who have approached the party expressing their interest to contest from the Congress.
The Congress chief claimed that there are also MLAs, who may apply for a ticket for the upcoming ADC elections. He said, “The party has no objection to that so long as the rules allow MLAs to contest (ADC elections).”