SHILLONG: The Trinamool Congress (TMC) has decided not to contest the upcoming elections for the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council and the Jaintia Hills Autonomous District Council in Meghalaya, despite being the state’s largest opposition party.
The Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council and the Jaintia Hills Autonomous District Council will go to polls on February 21. All major political parties, barring the TMC, are contesting.
TMC’s state unit president and former CM Mukul Sangma said that the party decided to concentrate on strengthening its bases before contesting elections.
He said the party decided against contesting after weighing the ground realities.
“We have taken a conscious decision that it is not necessary for us to fight every election, particularly district council election, because we are revisiting how we can further strengthen the party, particularly at the grassroots level,” Sangma said.
“In the absence of a proper organisation at the grassroots level, it is very important for us to ensure that we look at the practicality,” he added.
With five MLAs, the TMC is the largest opposition party after the Voice of the People Party (four MLAs) and the Congress (one MLA).
Meghalaya is a key state for the TMC outside West Bengal where it is in power.
TMC was not known much in Meghalaya till 2021, when 12 Congress MLAs led by Mukul Sangma shifted their allegiance to the Mamata Banerjee-led party in November 2021, thus dramatically making it the state’s principal opposition party.
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The party had gone all guns blazing in the 2023 Meghalaya elections but won only five seats in the elections held for the 60-member Assembly.
The TMC has a solid base in Meghalaya’s Garo Hills region. It, however, is struggling to build a base in the state’s two other regions – Khasi Hills and Jaintia Hills.
