Shillong: The United Democratic Party is scrambling to maintain its identity. Eight of its 12 MLAs joined the BJP in New Delhi on September 23. This move hits the two-thirds threshold required by Paragraph 4 of the Tenth Schedule. The legislators filed a merger letter with the Assembly Secretariat on Friday, which adviser Andrew Simons accepted while Speaker Thomas A. Sangma was away.
UDP general secretary Titosstarwell Chyne denies the move. He insists the party remains intact with its original name, flag, and Drum symbol. “An alliance is for administration, but a merger means losing our identity which we will never do,” Chyne stated. He says the party will fight the next election as the UDP.
The legal fight relies on history. In November 2021, 12 of 17 Congress MLAs left for the Trinamool Congress. Then-Speaker Metbah Lyngdoh ruled that move valid under the Tenth Schedule. He rejected petitions to disqualify those members. Now, those same eight UDP rebels are using Metbah’s 2021 logic against his own party. The Tenth Schedule ignores party structure. It only counts heads. Speaker Thomas A. Sangma must now decide if the arithmetic holds.
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