Meghalaya Chief Minister and National People’s Party (NPP) national president Conrad K Sangma on Sunday filed his nomination papers for the upcoming state Assembly polls, slated for February 27.
CM Conrad filed his nomination before the Returning Officer of 51-South Tura and additional deputy commissioner Saljong R Marak in Tura.
Prior to the filing of his nomination, the NPP chief accompanied by his wife visited the grave of his late father and former Chief Minister PA Sangma in Tura, to seek his blessings.
Speaking to reporters after filing his nomination, Conrad said there is a positive wave for the National People’s Party and the opposition is disintegrating day by day. “Hence, in this political scenario I see the trend that NPP is heading towards getting an absolute majority and we are confident that we will get it,” he said.
About the issues based on which the party will fight the elections, he replied, “We are moving ahead with the development work we have done in the last five years. And the overall work that has happened in different sectors and the fact that the foundation has been laid, it is time to take things forward to the next level and continuity is important to ensure that we’ll be able to achieve those goals.”
Conrad is seeking re-election from South Tura, which he won after being elected as the chief minister of Meghalaya in the by-election for the seat in August 2018. He polled 13,656 votes and defeated his nearest Congress rival Charlotte W Momin by a margin of over 8,400 votes.
Prior to that, he was the Member of Parliament from Tura (2016–2018). After the passing away of his father Late PA Sangma, on March 4, 2016, who was then the sitting MP from the Tura seat, Conrad contested the by-election from Tura to the Lok Sabha in May 2016 and won by a record margin of 1.92 lakh votes.
He was sworn in as the chief minister of Meghalaya on March 6, 2018.
Last date for filing of nomination for the Meghalaya Assembly elections 2023 is February 7. The scrutiny of the nominations will be done on February 8 and the last date for withdrawal of nominations is February 10, 2023. The polling is on February 27 and results will be declared on March 2, 2023.
