Some MDA legislators will not vote in presidential election, says Meghalaya CM Sangma

A few Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) MPs will not vote in the presidential election to be held in July 18, said Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma.

On July 13, Chief Minister Conrad Sangma stated that the lawmakers in issue had been notified in advance, a day after chairing a meeting of the MDA to review the situation.

“Of course, there are two-three MLAs who will not be able to vote because they will not be in town (and) they have informed us in advance. But we do expect that the votes that are there with the MDA, we will get all,” said Conrad.

The Chief Minister also informed that the MLAs were also given preliminary training on the process of casting their vote.

“Though it is a simple process but sometimes some mistakes get made and that was one of the issues (taken up in the meeting),” Conrad explained, adding that other issues pertaining to the individual MLAs were also discussed.
The MDA has 48 legislators from various coalition partners and independents, as well as five suspended Congress MLAs.

Earlier on July 6, suspended Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Ampareen Lyngdoh expressed disappointment over the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) failure to invite the five Congress legislators to the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate Draupadi Murmu's support-seeking meeting, saying "they will soon take a call on their next course of action."

The Chief Minister, however, assured to resolve issues among the coalition partners.