According to the latest counting trends shared by the Election Commission (EC) at 12.40pm on Thursday, the ruling National People’s Party (NPP) won two seats in Meghalaya and was leading in 21 others. According to EC data, Coming One Ymbon, the National People’s Party candidate from Raliang, defeated the BJP’s Lakhon Biam by a margin of 5,337 votes.
Furthermore, Sniawbhalang Dhar, the NPP candidate from Nartiang, defeated Congress candidate Emlang Laloo by a narrow margin of 2123 votes. While Meghalaya’s majority vote is 31, the NPP emerged as the single largest party after the first round of voting.
Conrad K Sangma, the NPP’s leader and Chief Minister, was leading the BJP’s Bernard N Marak by 2830 votes in the South Tura constituency. The TMC and BJP were each leading in 5 seats, the United Democratic Party was leading in 9 seats, and the Congress was leading in 4 seats. The current trends were for 57 of the state’s 59 Assembly constituencies.
The counting began at 8 a.m. in all 13 centres. For the first 30 minutes, postal ballots were counted, followed by polled votes in the EVM Control Units. Shillong has the most Counting Halls in the state, with one for each assembly constituency.
The West Garo Hills District Counting Centre serves 11 assembly constituencies and is the state’s second-largest counting centre. The Election Commission has deployed 27 Counting Observers, with over 500 micro observers assisting them at each table.
Meghalaya Chief Minister and National People’s Party (NPP) chief Conrad Sangma met Assam Chief Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma in Guwahati on Tuesday night, ahead of the counting of votes for Meghalaya assembly elections. Sarma, in particular, is the convenor of the North-East Democratic Alliance (NEDA).
According to an NPP source, both Chief Ministers attended a crucial meeting in a hotel in Guwahati that lasted half an hour. Following the meeting, the Chief Minister of Meghalaya returned to Tura in the West Garo Hills. Earlier on Tuesday, Meghalaya CM hinted at forming a post-poll alliance to form the government.
A counting Observer assists four counting assistants at each table. On Monday, Meghalaya had a voting percentage of more than 76%. The state’s 59 Assembly constituencies were represented by 3,419 polling stations.
Meghalaya has 60 Assembly constituencies, 36 of which are in the Khasi, Jaintia Hills region, and 24 in the Garo Hills region. However, polling for the Sohiong Assembly constituency was postponed following the demise of the state’s former Home Minister and United Democratic Party (UDP) candidate from the seat HDR Lyngdoh.
