Shillong, Oct 31: Newly appointed NPP state president Prestone Tynsong on Tuesday said the party will announce the names of candidates for both Shillong and Tura Lok Sabha seats next month.

Speaking to reporters, Tynsong said that the preparation for the upcoming Lok Sabha election is going on.

“The work is on the ground. We have already planned but of course little transitional period has taken place because I have just taken over today from outgoing president but I am telling you that is not the hurdle, it is not an issue but now we are one. Whatever team done by Dr Kharlukhi and whatever agendas put in place to all the party leaders throughout the state, I will also continue to do that,” he said.

He informed that quite a number of candidates have approached the party for ticket.

Asked as to when TMC leader and former Umroi legislator George B Lyngdoh will join the NPP, Tynsong however said, “Not necessarily we approached George, in fact everybody approached us. Our door is open, they do approach us and now we are sitting down and we workout. The detailed information is being collected be it from Tura constituency or be it from Shillong constituency.”

On the Tura parliamentary seat, which is being represented by NPP leader Agatha K Sangma, the new state president said, “We are being guided by the constitution of the party whether sitting or non-sitting or whatever we have to abide by the constitution of the party.”

Tynsong said his top priority as new president will be to reconstitute the state level committees, district committees and block level committees in order to prepare the party for coming elections.

With regards to the ADC elections, he said that the party is still working out on the names of the candidates.

“Why we wanted to immediately reconstitute the full-fledged committee of the state level and even in the district level as we wanted to get all those recommended names or candidates from all the districts,” he added.

When asked, Tynsong said the party has in fact done well in terms of voting percentage, which has increased to 31%. “Overall if you talk in terms of voting percentage, still we are first. That means we really increased (our vote share). In terms of voting percentage, in fact, we have done well. Unfortunately, we could not get more MLAs,” he added.