Shillong, March 08: In a 194 candidate list that was finalized by the All India Congress committee, Congress has fielded candidate for only Tura ST Seat, however, the party is yet to finalize the candidate for the Shillong parliamentary seat.
For Tura seat there are total eight aspirants for Congress ticket which includes Daryl William Cheran Momin, grandson of Capt Williamson Sangma, Chief Minister Dr Mukul Sangma’s brother Zenith Sangma and many others.
Zenith M Sangma is presently MLA from Rangsakona (ST) constituency in West Garo Hills. 41 year old Sangma earlier also contested Lok Sabha election in 2008.
In the by-election held in May, 2008 following the resignation of PA Sangma as MP after he was elected to the State Assembly, Agatha who contested for the first time defeated Zenith, the brother of Chief Minister Dr Mukul Sangma by a huge margin. Zenith was not a legislator then as he had lost in the Assembly elections in February 2008.
Whereas in the Lok Sabha polls held in 2009, Agatha, who contested and won against Congress candidate Deborah Marak and could get the winning margin of only 17,945 votes.
Even as the Tura Lok Sabha seat is currently held by Agatha Kongkal Sangma, daughter of the former Lok Sabha speaker and Nationalist People’s Party (NPP) president Purno A’gitok Sangma, However, in recent years the rise of Dr. Mukul Sangma as a leader in Garo Hills has made the atmosphere favourable for Congress in the last Assembly election. While the NPP is last Assembly polls had to face a serious debacle with many of its sitting legislators loosing election.
Tura is always considered as PA Sangma’s stronghold as he had represented the seat for eight times in the Lok Sabha between 1977 and 2008. He then handed over the baton to his daughter Agatha.(SP News)
