SHILLONG, September 28: Eight of the United Democratic Party’s 12 Meghalaya Legislative Assembly members joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in New Delhi on September 23 and subsequently submitted a merger letter, setting up a decisive test under Paragraph 4 of the Tenth Schedule. The eight legislators constitute exactly two-thirds of the UDP’s Assembly contingent, a threshold that can protect them from disqualification if the Speaker accepts the merger. The UDP, however, continues to insist that the party itself has not merged with the BJP.
UDP General Secretary Titosstarwell Chyne said reports of a merger were “false” and “misleading.” He said the party would retain its name, flag and Drum symbol and contest the next election as the UDP. Chyne also maintained that participation in the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance was an administrative alliance, not a surrender of the party’s identity.
“UDP is UDP. UDP will remain UDP,” Chyne said, adding that President Metbah Lyngdoh had never discussed merging the party with a national party. “An alliance is for administration, but a merger means losing our identity, which we will never do.”
The merger letter was received at the Assembly Secretariat on Friday by Adviser (Legislation) Andrew Simons, in the absence of Speaker Thomas A. Sangma. The Speaker must examine the papers and issue an order. Until then, the eight legislators remain shielded from disqualification under the Tenth Schedule.
The move carries an uncomfortable precedent for Metbah, who applied the same provision as Speaker in 2021. In November that year, 12 of the Congress’s 17 MLAs, led by Mukul Sangma and Charles Pyngrope, submitted a merger letter to the Trinamool Congress. Metbah rejected petitions seeking their disqualification on December 23, ruling that the two-thirds requirement had been met.
Now, as UDP president, Metbah faces the argument he once accepted against the Congress. The UDP is following the line taken by Ampareen Lyngdoh after the 2021 Congress split: the organisation may continue to exist even if its legislative party is deemed to have merged. The decisive question is therefore not the UDP’s public claim to its identity, but whether the Assembly Speaker recognises the eight legislators’ decision as a merger.
Original Source: https://theshillongtimes.com/2026/09/29/metbah-faces-tenth-schedule-challenge-he-upheld-5-yrs-ago/
Category: MEGHALAYA
Tags:
Publish Date: 2026-09-29 01:33:00
