The Congress on Thursday became the single largest party in Meghalaya after Miani D Shira won the Ampati Assembly seat in bye-elections held on Monday. Twenty-seven-year-old Shira, who is the daughter of former chief minister Mukul Sangma, defeated the National People’s Party’s Clement Momin by 3,191 votes.

Till now, the National People’s Party-led alliance and the Congress had 20 seats each in the 60-member House. The Congress won 21 seats during the Assembly elections in February, but Mukul Sangma, who won from Ampati as well as Songsak, had to quit one seat. The Congress was 11 seats short of the majority mark of 31.

The Conrad Sangma-led NPP, which won 19 seats, formed an alliance with six legislators from the United Democratic Party, four from the People’s Democratic Front, two each from the Hill State People’s Democratic Party and the BJP, one from the Nationalist Congress Party and one Independent to form the government. The NPP increased its tally to 20 after winning the Williamnagar seat in bye-elections held in April. Currently, the alliance has 35 lawmakers.