Shillong, Dec 24: The opposition Congress on Friday expressed confidence to cross the half-way mark in 2023.

The first list of 46 candidates will be finalized by the Meghalaya Pradesh Election Committee (MPEC) on December 29. The list will be submitted to the All India Congress Committee (AICC) for its approval.

“Out of 46 seats, we should be able to get more than 30 because the under current is very strong for the Congress this time,” MPCC chief Vincent Pala told reporters.

Referring to meetings held in constituencies like Mawphlang, Sohiong and Nongthymmai where the party is fielding new faces, Pala claimed that the response of the people was quite good.

“We are ready for the elections. If we give good qualified candidates who are free from any corruption, people will turn to the Congress this time. Our job is to give the best candidates. That is why we are confident that the Congress on its own will cross 30 seats,” he added.

Gearing up for the 2023 polls, the AICC had recently approved the constitution of the 11-member Meghalaya Pradesh Election Committee (MPEC) to be headed by Pala and a 16-member Pradesh Campaign Committee under the chairmanship of former MPCC chief Dr Celestine Lyngdoh.

Pala said the first meeting of the MPEC will be held on December 29, to finalize 46 names of the candidates for approval of the AICC.

“This time we have decided not to hide the names which we will be forwarding to the AICC to ensure there is transparency,” he said. According to him, the intention of the Congress is to field candidates from all 60 Assembly constituencies.

When asked that the Congress will be facing the election without any sitting legislators, Pala however said, “I think there should not be any problem as normally 55% of the sitting legislators will always lose in the elections…though we do not have sitting MLAs but we have ex-MLAs, we have sitting MDCs, ex-MDCs…”

He said that the party does not set any qualification as criteria for applying ticket but definitely for the first time majority of the candidates are having good qualification and some have resigned from their jobs to join the party, which shows there is a lot of enthusiasm for the party in Khasi, Jaintia and Garo Hills region.

The Congress chief further informed that under the chairmanship of the Dr Celestine Lyngdoh, the party also seeks to prepare a roadmap and the vision of the party to make it easier for the people to understand that only the Congress can bring back the lost glory of Meghalaya be it in tourism, employment, law and order, farmers, institutions, education and others. “We accept the challenges and we will overcome the challenges also,” he said.

Pala said that the Congress will not fight elections based on money but will fight the election based on hard work and trust of the people.

“It is for the first time that we instruct our candidates to go door to door meeting – that is a huge investment where we connect with the people. Mahila and youth are going door to door meeting to connect with the people and that is one of the main reasons in the coming election that the Congress will have an upper hand,” he further asserted.

Meanwhile, the MPCC chief informed that the party has also completed giving training to the young boys and girls for reaching out to the people of the state through social media platforms.