Meghalaya elections: National People’s Party fights hard, ruling Congress’ vote share drops over 6%
Independent candidates and regional parties will decide who forms the next government.
The regional National People’s Party gave the Congress a tough fight in the Meghalaya Assembly elections, the results of which were declared on Saturday. The polls ended in a hung Assembly as no single party won a majority.
The Congress won 21 seats with a vote share of 28.5%, according to the Election Commission. The party’s final vote share in the 2013 elections was 34.78%.
The National People’s Party, founded by former Chief Minister late PA Sangma and led by his son Conrad Sangma, won 19 seats with a vote share was 20.6% – up from 8.81% in 2013.
While the Bharatiya Janata Party did not win the state on its own as it had hoped to, it got a vote share of 9.6% – a significant jump from 1.27% in 2013. The party won two seats in the Meghalaya elections.
With a hung Assembly, alliances with independent candidates and regional parties, such as the United Democratic Party and the Hill State People’s Democratic Party, will decide who forms the government in Meghalaya. The United Democratic Party won a vote share of 11.6% and six seats and the Hill State People’s Democratic Party, a vote share of 5.3% and two seats.