Tura, Oct 6 : The regional UDP party has announced the candidature of Ashahel D Shira for the Rajabala bye-election which is going to the polls on 30th October.
Ashahel D Shira is a sitting Congress MDC in the GHADC representing Batabari constituency that forms a major slice of Rajabala assembly seat.
The cross over by Ashahel D Shira is a shock for the Congress because it has divided the party supporters in that constituency after the Congress announced the candidature of Dr Azad Zaman’s widow Hashina Yasmine Mondol.
Ashahel was an aspirant for the Congress ticket.
He won Rajabala as an Independent in 2013 elections but lost to Dr Azad in the 2018 elections. During Chief Minister Mukul Sangma’s government, he was made parliamentary secretary for water resources as a reward for giving support to the Congress. He later joined the Congress but was looked over in the ticket allocation as the party gave preference to Dr Azad Zaman who eventually went on to win the Rajabala seat.
Political family in Rajabala
Ashahel D Shira is not a green horn in the political game in the minority dominated plains of West Garo Hills where Rajabala constituency is located.
His late grandmother, Meriam D Shira, was the first woman MLA from Rajabala in the early 1980s. Ashahel’s late father Lalthuanga D Shira was an MDC of the GHADC for two terms from the same Rajabala region. Ashahel himself is contesting his fourth MLA elections, this time. His first in 2008 was unsuccessful against Sayedullah Nongrum of the Congress. He won in 2013 but again lost in 2018.
