SHILLONG: As the election campaigns have reached a feverish pitch in the state of Meghalaya, the Bharatiya Janata Party is expecting a grand victory for Akki A Sangama, the candidate they have fielded in the Dalu legislative assembly constituency of the state.
The Dalu constituency is located in the West Garo Hills district of the state of Meghalaya. According to the history books, this region had seen the movement of a large number of Hindu refugees in the 1960s when they had fled from the then East Pakistan to India following the Bangladesh Liberation War. These refugees belonged to several communities including the Koch, Hajong and several other communities which were later settled in different parts of the state of Assam.
Nitya Narayan Simchang was the first Bharatiya Janata Party candidate to make it to the legislative assembly from the Dalu constituency of the Garo Hills. Several communities including Bengali Hindus and several local ethnic groups were instrumental in his win in this election. But since this win in 1998, the party has not been able to make a mark here. Last year Kurosh Marak of the BJP lost to Brening Sangma of NPP by a margin of fewer than 1000 votes.
Akki A Sangma’s main agenda for the election is the welfare of the local people. 7000 out of the total 22000 strong electorates belong to the Hindu community. He also mentioned that the drinking water supply has not reached the region and the locals have to drink water from the local rivers. He also added that the region does not have a single government-run college or medical facility. The nearest hospital of the region is the Tura Civil Hospital, which takes around two hours to reach.
A total of nine candidates are appearing from this constituency, including the BJP, NPP, TMC, UDP, Congres, RPI and three independents.
Also Watch: