 general secretary Jemino Mawthoh said, "When the party meets, we will discuss. It is only when we come together as party leaders we will be able to decide (on this). As of now, we have not taken any decision as far as the MP election is concerned."){kind=link}
SHILLONG:
United Democratic Party (UDP) general secretary Jemino Mawthoh, on June 2, informed that the party is yet to decide whether or not it would contest in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections next year.
Mawthoh said, “When the party meets, we will discuss. It is only when we come together as party leaders we will be able to decide (on this). As of now, we have not taken any decision as far as the MP election is concerned.”
Asked if he would contest from the Shillong parliamentary seat again, he said, “I have not taken a decision as of now. The party will have to take a decision on this.”
Mawthoh was the consensus candidate of the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) government from Shillong in 2019 and was defeated by sitting Congress MP Vincent H Pala.
“I managed to get up to 34 per cent vote share. I got 2.67 lakh votes. Had it not been for that Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) issue, I would have won the MP election last time,” he said, further stating, “In 2009, Pala got 48 per cent vote share. In 2014, Pala’s vote share dropped to 33 per cent and we thought in 2019 he would surely go down to 19-20 per cent but instead it shot up due to the CAB-CAA issue.”
Furthermore, the UDP general secretary also added that his name being linked to BJP-back MDA has affected his prospect to win the last MP election.
“In fact, I really had wanted to be in parliament to flag and articulate the issues of the state,” he said.