Shillong, October 23: The United Democratic Party (UDP) has suffered another major setback after Meghalaya Legislative Assembly Speaker Thomas A. Sangma formally recognised the merger of three of its remaining four MLAs with the ruling National People’s Party (NPP), leaving the UDP with just one legislator in the 60-member Assembly.
According to an order issued by the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly Secretariat on Friday, the three legislators are Paul Lyngdoh of West Shillong, Renikton Lyngdoh Tongkhar of Mawkyrwat and Nujorki Sungoh of Mowkaiaw.
The development comes just a week after the Speaker, through an order dated October 16, recognised the merger of eight UDP MLAs with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), reducing the UDP’s strength in the Assembly to four members. Following the earlier merger, three of the four remaining UDP legislators submitted a communication to the Speaker on October 17, conveying their decision to merge with the NPP.
In their communication, the three MLAs maintained that they constituted not less than two-thirds of the UDP Legislature Party, thereby fulfilling the numerical requirement under Paragraph 4(2) of the Tenth Schedule to the Constitution of India. They further stated that the UDP, as the original political party in Meghalaya, had adopted a resolution on October 17 deciding to merge with the NPP.
The matter was placed before the Speaker on October 19, following which he directed the legislators to personally verify the contents of their communication. According to the Assembly Secretariat, two of the three MLAs appeared before the Speaker that day and reaffirmed their decision.
After examining the matter, the Speaker issued an order on October 23 accepting and formally recognising the merger under Paragraph 4 of the Tenth Schedule. The order stated that the Speaker was satisfied that the three legislators had voluntarily decided to merge with the NPP and that they fulfilled the required two-thirds strength of the UDP Legislature Party. The Speaker also directed that the three legislators be allotted seats in the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly as members of the NPP.
With the latest development, the UDP, which emerged as the second-largest party in the 2023 Meghalaya Assembly elections, has seen its legislative strength reduced to just one MLA following the merger of 11 of its legislators with the BJP and NPP within a week. The UDP’s lone remaining legislator is party president and Mairang MLA Metbah Lyngdoh, while the NPP’s strength in the Assembly has increased to 36 members.
