Former Meghalaya Legislative Speaker and an ex-MLA, Abu Taher Mondal will be the candidate of the National People’s Party (NPP) for the Phulbari Legislative Assembly seat for the 2023 Assembly Polls.
Mondol on Saturday joined the NPP. The induction programme was attended by National President of NPP Conrad K Sangma beside others.
“When the 2023 elections are announced as and when the nomination comes out it will be Mr. AT Mondol who will be filing the nomination as the NPP candidate,” the NPP National president said.
With this decision, the ruling NPP has shown exit door to its incumbent MLA from Phulbari SG Esmatur Mominin.
Asked what made you to invite AT Mondal to the party because you already have a sitting MLAS, is it because he has a failure in him, Sangma said, “I don’t want to comment on any bodies individual work or not work, I wish him the very best and I think we have made our political surveys and calculations and we feel strongly that at this point in time that they the entry of AT Mondol into the National People’s Party (NPP) will boost the party and also we feel strongly that the possibility of fighting election under his candidature will be much more stronger.”
The NPP President said, “Once a particular candidate is elected for a term till the end of the term the person will be belonging to that particular political party and as the term ends the affiliation ends, the only way for the concern person to disaffiliate from the party is to either have 2/3 majority and merged with another party which is defection or the person has to resign which some MLAs have resigned recently, they will join some other political party that is the decision that has to be made by a particular individual.”
The Three time legislator joined electoral fray and contested successfully as an independent candidate in 1998 from Phulbari Assembly constituency. He defeated Manirul Islam Sarkar. He then joined Nationalist Congress Party and contested the 2003 Assembly election unsuccessfully.
In 2008, he resigned from NCP and once again contested as an Independent candidate and managed to defeat Sarkar for the second time. In 2013, he contested the Assembly election as an Indian National Congress candidate and continued his winning spree. However, he couldn’t make a hat-trick as in 2018, he was defeated by S. G. Esmatur Mominin of NPP.
In March 2013, Mondal was elected Speaker of the Legislative Assembly.