SHILLONG, JUN 4: The Meghalaya Democratic Alliance – II on Wednesday unanimously decided to field National People’s Party (NPP)’s James PK Sangma for the Rajya Sabha seat from Meghalaya, with polling slated for June 18.
The resolution was adopted at a meeting of parliamentary party leaders of all MDA-II constituents, chaired by Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma.
Announcing this, UDP leader Paul Lyngdoh said, “The parliamentary party leaders representing all constituents of the MDA-II were briefed about election scheduled to the Rajya Sabha for the State of Meghalaya on June 18, 2026 and the views of the NPP on the matter by both the national and the state presidents of the NPP.”
During the meeting, several partners pushed for their own candidates. “Members from the constituent units expressed their various points and indicated their willingness to have their party nominees selected and endorsed as official candidate of the MDA,” he said.
With multiple names on the table and no common choice, the alliance opted for the standard precedent.
“Since the various parties had proposed various names of individuals belonging to the respective political parties and there being no point of consensus on a single name, it was decided to follow the established convention of endorsing the proposal put forward by the largest constituent i.e., the NPP,” Lyngdoh said. He said the move was aimed “to ensure cohesion and unanimity on the basis of established parliamentary practice.”
“The meeting therefore, unanimously endorsed the NPP’s proposal for the candidature of James PK Sangma as Rajya Sabha nominee representing the MDA-II,” Lyngdoh stated.
The coalition also settled the question of the upcoming Shillong Lok Sabha byelection. “It was unanimously agreed that the parties are free to contest/support/stay neutral/stay away from the above byelection,” he said.
Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma said the meeting had a single-point agenda and thanked members for their unity. He confirmed that the nomination filing will be on June 5.
Explaining the decision, Sangma said extensive talks did not yield a consensus.
“Detailed discussion took place and that is why we took a lot of time but at the end since we could not come up on a consensus on different desire of different political parties, we came to a consensus and we have all agreed together that we will go as per democratic process and allow the largest party nominee to be backed,” he said. He stressed that all constituents had signed off on the resolution.
“All political parties who are present today, have formally agreed to that and therefore, the question of the whip coming in in any other way does not arise,” Sangma said. “If the whip comes in, it will come in the language that the particular political party MLAs will support the MDA-II candidature,” he added.
Sangma clarified the nature of the nomination. “It is important to note that the candidate which we are proposing now is not a political party candidate but it has been adopted as a resolution as the MDA-II’s candidate.”
’s James PK Sangma for the Rajya Sabha seat from Meghalaya, with polling slated for June 18.){kind=link}