Overview
- UDP leader Paul Lyngdoh said three of the party’s four remaining Meghalaya MLAs are expected to join the National People’s Party on Monday, a move reported by multiple outlets.
- If formalised the NPP’s tally would rise from 33 to 36 of the 60 Assembly seats and the UDP would be reduced to its president Metbah Lyngdoh as the sole legislator.
- Those defecting lawmakers are to submit merger letters to the Meghalaya Assembly for the Speaker’s recognition, a step the Assembly has already used to approve earlier mergers.
- An earlier group of eight UDP MLAs joined the BJP and the Speaker recognised that merger on October 16, boosting the BJP from two seats to 10 and reshaping coalition arithmetic.
- The realignment tightens the NPP’s hold inside the NPP-led Meghalaya Democratic Alliance and could affect candidate selection, local governance and coalition bargaining ahead of the 2028 election.