Meghalaya’s deputy chief minister Bindo M Lanong Saturday indirectly predicted a split verdict in the upcoming Assembly elections in Meghalaya, stating coalition politics would continue in the state.

“In India’s politics these days no single party seems to enjoy the absolute faith of the voters and therefore there is a need for alliance with other parties in the post elections,” he said.

Lanong was delivering a key-note address on “electoral politics in the state of Meghalaya” at a seminar organized by Political Science department of St Edmund’s College here.

“Coalition politics is order of the day. There is going to be a coalition government at the centre and even in Meghalaya but what matter most is that the performance of a coalition government and a single party government,” the veteran Meghalaya politician said.

Meanwhile, in Meghalaya, he said, more than 73.92 per cent of the voters live in the rural sector with a 77 per cent literacy rate, but the voters continue to choose the wrong candidates.

“Voters in Meghalaya have a different taste of electing their representatives… sometimes it’s based on clan… personal relationship …. and the worst is the influence of money power which is gaining ground in Meghalaya,” he said.

Suggesting that people must elect the right candidate during the upcoming assembly elections he said that the selection must be based solely on all round merit and no other criteria.

“Meghalaya is heading for elections but there are still representatives who have not spoken in the Assembly. At least, there are three MLAs In the house of 60, there are MLA one legislator closes to Shillong and the other two from Jaintia Hills have not utter a word or tabled a question in the Assembly,” Lanong said.

He rued that if MLAs don’t raise the issues and grievances of their people from their constituency in the floor of the House the people who elects them suffers most.

“Don’t get swayed by cheap offers and don’t get carried away by offers which will destroy your future,” Lanong urged the gathering.

Stating that candidates should have minimum fixed qualification to contest elections - class 12 for MP and class 10 for MLAs, he cited the example of a Meghalaya Minster who did not even know the differences between a telephone directory and a dictionary.

“Education is a must even for a roadside mechanic to understand the mechanism of an automobile. Therefore, the people must elect a right person and get a government that performs.