Congress won Shillong seat, NPP bags Tura seat

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaMay 23, 2019

SHILLONG: The ruling National People’s Party (NPP) won the Tura parliamentary seat while the opposition Congress bagged the Shillong Lok Sabha seat with a huge margin.

Elections to both the Shillong and Tura parliamentary seats and bye election to the Selsella Assembly constituency were held simultaneously on April 11, the results of which were declared on Thursday.

Sitting Congress MP and former Union Minister Vincent H Pala retained the Shillong Lok Sabha seat for the third consecutive time by defeating his closest rival, Jemino Mawthoh of the United Democratic Party (UDP) by a huge margin of 1,52,139 votes.

Pala, who got elected for the first time in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, secured a total of 4,19,232 votes.

However, Mawthoh, who was backed by the regional political parties supporting the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) government, got only 2,67,093 votes.

In the Tura Lok Sabha seat, former Union Minister Agatha K Sangma of the NPP defeated Congress nominee and former chief minister Dr Mukul Sangma by a margin of 63,775 votes.

She retained the seat which her father (L) Purno Agitok Sangma held for nine times, by getting 3,03,848 votes. Mukul on the other hand managed to secure 2,40,073 votes.

It was however a set back for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Meghalaya when it lost in both the seats.

While BJP legislator and candidate from Shillong seat Sanbor Shullai got 75,790 votes whilce its candidate from Tura, Rikman Garrey Momin secured 31,379 votes.

The other independents candidates who contested the Shillong seat include THS Bonney who got 6,569 votes, Romeo Phira Rani got 4,946 votes, while Samuel Hashah got 4,583 votes.

4,398 voted for NOTA in Shillong, while 6,441 voters pressed the NOTA button in Tura.

While the state recorded an overall turnout of 71.41 per cent of the 19 lakh plus voters, Tura Lok witnessed a high turnout of 81.30 per cent and Shillong seat recorded 65.49 per cent.