Digital Desk: Three more members of the 11th Meghalaya Legislative Assembly resigned from their seats on January 5. Two more members of the People’s Democratic Front (PDF) and one member of the Hill State People’s Democratic Party (HSPDP) are anticipated to join the ruling National People’s Party (NPP) in ahead of time of the upcoming general elections.
The three MLAs, whose names have been released, are Hamletson Dohling (Mylliem), Jason S. Mawlong (Umsning) and Samlin Malngiang (Sohiong) of the HSPDP. They presented the Speaker, Metbah Lyngdoh, with their separate resignation letters at the Assembly Secretariat in Khyndai Lad.
Prior to the elections, a total of 10 legislators have resigned, reducing the House’s strength down from 60 to 50.
Dohling revealed that all three of them had made the decision to join the NPP in the upcoming days while discussing the situation with reporters.
Speaking about his own district, Dohling stated that the choice was made in response to a request from the Mylliem village leaders and on the advice of the core committee.
“Accordingly, as a leader, I have to listen to them and I decide to resign today to join the NPP,” he added.
Meanwhile, Mawlong said that he too had taken the decision based on the collective voice of his supporters and added, “We want to ensure stability in the government so that we can serve the people of the state better.”
“The decision to resign as MLA is because I have decided to join the NPP. The reason is that we want to ensure that the NPP gets the absolute majority to lead the government so that we can give good governance to the people of the state,” he added.
He added that he had nothing against the HSPDP and that the claim that he felt guilty about losing his cabinet seat is untrue.