Shillong, Oct 19 (PTI) Meghalaya Congress president Vincent H Pala on Thursday said the party is ready for the Lok Sabha and Meghalaya tribal council elections due next year.

He said this while talking to reporters on the sidelines of the Youth Congress convention here.

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"We are ready to face the tribal council election whether it is going to be held in February or whether it is going to be held at any time. This will depend on the state government," Pala said while speaking to reporters at the sidelines of the convention.

He said the party will also be writing to all block committees to speed up the process of sending their recommendations as far as candidates for the elections to the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council and Jaintia Hills Autonomous District Council are concerned.

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"The process will start from next Monday. The process actually starts in November and list will come up in December and we will declare the candidates once the elections are being declared," Pala said.

He said that the process for selection of candidates will be the same for MP and MDC elections.

The Meghalaya Congress president claimed that many leaders from both Khasi-Jaintia Hills and Garo Hills region have approached the party expressing their interest to contest in Congress ticket.

He said there are also MLAs, who may apply for a ticket for the upcoming autonomous district council elections and said, "The party has no objection to that so long as the rules allow MLAs to contest (ADC elections).

"It is only when the process is completed by December we will then know as to how many candidates we will be fielding (for the ADC elections)," he added.

Pala said that the allotment of party tickets for the MDC elections will largely depend on the blocks as there is absolutely no interference from the party high command.

"So it depends on the wisdom of the blocks, who they propose or recommend as party candidates for the MDC elections. Criteria are that any member of the party has the right to apply for a party ticket...," he added.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)