Shillong, Feb 25: United Democratic Party (UDP) leader and cabinet minister Paul Lyngdoh on Tuesday said that anti-incumbency is one of the main reasons behind the poor performance of the party in the just concluded autonomous district council (ADC) elections in the Khasi and Jaintia Hills region.

The UDP has won only five seats in the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC) and 3 seats in the Jaintia Hills Autonomous District Council (JHADC).

“(The bad performance was due) anti-incumbency as people always think that new brooms sweep well and as you all aware VPP has never been in power so it is easier when you sit from the galleries to point out where things are going wrong on the ground but we have been on the ground for a very long so obviously people can point at your mistakes because you are supposed to perform but VPP till today has not dawn the mantle of government or power. Therefore, it is easier to say that look we are without power give us power first then we will deliver,” Lyngdoh told reporters.

Lauding the Voice of the People Party (VPP) for its excellent performance, the UDP leader said, “So it is good now that they are in a comfortable position to lead the EC in the KHADC, I wish them well and I wish that they will deliver on their electoral promises.”

Whether the VPP was riding on emotions and sentiments of the people, Lyngdoh however said, “I would say that their style of campaign was very different from our style but again in politics there is always a graph you rise, you reach your climax and then you start to slide down then you reach your anti-climax and then you go back to the climax. I think that’s how history repeats itself.”

Asked, Lyngdoh informed that the UDP will soon meet to discuss the outcome of the ADC polls.

“Well in politics there are always ups and downs. Of course our performance is way below par. As a party, we will meet formally and analyzed where things went wrong and also try to ensure recover last ground,”he said.

“It has been an excellence performance (by the VPP) and it certainly shows that it has emerged as a major player in the state’s political dynamics but again as one of the longest and biggest regional parties as UDP, now the task ahead of us is to ensure we pull up our socks and try to optimize our potential as a party,” he added.

To a question if the ADC polls was a warning bell for other political parties ahead of 2028, Lyngdoh said, “Well, we are always on the alert as a party and if we compare our performance to the last Lok Sabha elections, we have certainly improved but that again is not satisfactory but comparatively in the Lok Sabha elections, we were almost wiped out but this time around we managed five seats on our own and HSPDP one. Anyway it is a sign that we are recovering but we would like the rate of recovery to be faster.”

On the UDP’s defeat from Jaiaw, Lyngdoh said, “In Jaiaw, if you go by the polling station wise tally it indicates that since there are two Assembly constituencies involved – North Shillong and West Shillong. In the polling stations under West Shillong constituency, the VPP got ahead of us by 600 plus votes and if you compared that to the Lok Sabha elections, we were last and this time we were second but where we lost was largely because of the fact that in the North Shillong constituency our performance was very dismal.”

On the other hand, Lyngdoh said that there is no plan to change the party’s leadership.

“That thought has not cross our mind but in any case we are a democratic party if things go right we take collective credit for it and if things go wrong we take collective responsibility for it,” he added.

On the incident at Narwan village where a former rangbah shnong’s residence was attacked, Lyngdoh said that comparatively Meghalaya elections have been by and large peaceful and discipline.

“Therefore, I do not think these will have far reaching consequences. Its  not the sort of politics you see happening in Bengal or Bihar so I don’t attribute much to it,” he added.

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