GUWAHATI: Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma’s National People’s Party (NPP) on Wednesday filed a report with the police in Nagaland saying that its candidate for Aonglenden by-election in the state’s Mokokchung district has been missing since Tuesday.
Bendang Jamir, who is the NPP’s Mokokchung district unit president, urged the police to file an FIR as the party feared the candidate could be abducted.
“I would like to state that our NPP candidate O Tinu Longkumer for Aonglenden by-election has been missing since March 26. I request you to kindly look into the matter as we fear that he might have been abducted,” Jamir wrote in the report submitted to the officer-in-charge of Mokokchung police station.
However, the police said Longkumer is safe and healthy.
“We formed a SIT (special investigation team) immediately after receiving the complaint and it soon managed to reach him. He said he is safe and healthy and that he was not abducted,” Mokokchung Superintendent of Police, Raguramarajan, told this newspaper.
He, however, refused to divulge details of the NPP candidate’s whereabouts. “He (Longkumer) will soon issue a statement,” the SP added.
The social media is abuzz with reports that Longkumer withdrew his nomination on Wednesday. However, official sources said none of the four candidates has withdrawn the nomination. Thursday is the last day for withdrawal of nomination.
The NPP candidate is rumoured to have been offered the post of chairman of the state’s excise department by Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP), which is a major constituent of the state’s coalition government. The perception is that if Longkumer opts out, it will help the NDPP candidate Sharingain Longkumer.
Apart from NPP and NDPP, Congress and Naga People’s Front are also contesting the by-elections which were necessitated by the death of sitting MLA Imtikumzuk Longkumer of NDPP last year.