Shillong, June 7 : Ricky Andrew J. Syngkon, a member of a new regional outfit in Meghalaya, the Voice of People's Party (VPP), has stunned two political heavyweights in the hill state by defeating them by a formidable margin in the Lok Sabha polls.

Syngkon, a professor of commerce at North Eastern Hill University in Shillong, defeated three-time MP from Shillong Lok Sabha seat Vincent Pala. Moreover, the ruling party's candidate and health minister, Ampareen Lyngdoh, also could not hold ground before Syngkon, who contested the polls for the first time.

In an interview with IANS, Syngkon said, 'As a new party, we worked very hard in the last few months. We traversed the length and breadth of the Shillong parliamentary constituency and made people aware of their rights, which has worked in the elections.'

He said, 'We stood against corruption and abuse of power in Meghalaya. The VPP was established with the motto to provide a good and viable alternative to the people of the state who are tired of seeing misrule by different parties.'

Syngkon mentioned that they began their poll campaign much earlier than other candidates.

'We started campaigning in July last year. As a new outfit, we do not have money or muscle power, and we do not believe in either of these two things. The VPP stands firm on its ideology, and we tried to make people understand our points,' he said.

According to Syngkon, their party has a 24-point manifesto for the overall development of Meghalaya, and they went to the voters with a clear vision.

The VPP candidate got 5,71,078 votes, defeating Congress candidate Vincent Pala by a margin of 3,71,910. Health Minister Ampareen Lyngdoh received 1,86,488 votes, far less than the winner.

Syngkon heaped praise on VPP president Ardent Miller Basaiawmoit and said that Miller worked very hard to bring the party to this position.

He said, 'This is a victory of people that was possible due to the blessings of the Almighty.'

The VPP was formed In November 2021. The president of the party is Ardent Miller Basaiawmoit, who is the MLA from Nongkrem constituency in the state. Syngkon is the general secretary of the party.

The party contested the elections in 18 assembly segments in the Meghalaya legislative polls last year and won four seats.

Syngkon asserted that despite the fact that 50 years have passed since Meghalaya was formed, the state still performs poorly on the development index.

'In education, health, and other parameters, Meghalaya stands far behind other states. As a state, Meghalaya does not have any vision for development, which is very unfortunate. That is where people look to us to take the state on a new path with a perfect vision,' he said.

On being asked whether the VPP will support the NDA bloc or sit in the opposition, Syngkon said, 'We may be a party of just one MP but I am making it clear that we will not compromise on our ideology.'

/IANS