Meghalaya Poll Overview

By Wasbir Hussain

Editor-in-Chief

The X Factor in the Meghalaya elections could well be the battle of the Sangmas but in reality, it is five major parties at war against one another. Of these five, three — the NPP, UDP and the BJP –had been partners for five years, raising suspicion about whether they would tie the knot again after the polls. The other two , the nascent Trinamool and the Congress, hopes to tilt the balance and spoil the party the NPP or the UDP hopes to soak themselves in.
The Meghalaya elections is not about Conrad or Mukul Sangma. It is also not about the NPP, the BJP, UDP or Trinamool. It is about the issues like what will be the new government’ s stand on rat hole coal mining, will inner line permit system come in Meghalaya, what about jobs for the youth, and will the security situation be under control…
The big election news is the BJP and Congress decision to contest all the 60 seats. The NPP is contesting 57 seats but that’s not surprising. The UDP is putting up candidates in 46 seats and the TMC in 56.
With a clear five Cornered contest on the cards and going by Meghalaya’ s electoral history, can any of the parties get the numbers on their own to firm the next government? Seems unlikely. In the case of a fractured verdict, the options before the NPP, the present dominant player, is to side with the UDP and the BJP. But if Trinamool is to perform well, it has to choose either the UDP or the Congress or both. So the common factor here is the UDP which goes to suggest that the UDP could well emerge the kingmaker. If the UDP gets the numbers and falls short by a few, it has a lot of options. For the record, more than 20 MLAs from the outgoing Assembly are today contesting on tickets if other parties. That means they have hopped parties.
On the whole, it will be a surprise if the Meghalaya verdict is able to change the equations drastically.