Overview
- The planned switch was reported on Monday when UDP leader Paul Lyngdoh and two colleagues said they would meet the Assembly Speaker to submit a merger petition to join the NPP, which would raise the party’s strength from 33 to 36 pending formal recognition.
- Speaker Thomas A. Sangma has already recognised an earlier group merger on October 16 when eight UDP legislators formally joined the BJP and increased that party’s tally from two to ten.
- Under Paragraph 4 of the Tenth Schedule to the Constitution a merger by at least two-thirds of a party’s legislators avoids disqualification, and three of the UDP’s four remaining MLAs equal three-fourths of its strength, giving legal grounds for expected recognition.
- If the three MLAs are recognised as merged the UDP will be left with a single legislator, party president Metbah Lyngdoh, reducing the party’s ability to influence coalition decisions and local representation for voters in its former seats.
- The next step is a formal order from the Speaker to validate the petition and the likely outcome could reshape Meghalaya Democratic Alliance dynamics and campaigning ahead of the early 2028 Assembly election.