NPP wins Williamnagar Assembly seat in Meghalaya

The National People’s Party (NPP), a regional entity that former Lok Sabha Speaker Purno A Sangma had formed, won the adjourned election to the Williamnagar Assembly constituency in Meghalaya on Tuesday.

The victory has taken the seat tally of NPP, an ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party, to 20 in the State’s 60-member House with an effective strength of 59 after former Chief Minister Mukul Sangma of Congress gave up Ampati, one of the two seats he had won.

The NPP-led alliance, including two legislators of BJP, now has 37 MLAs.

The result declared around Tuesday noon showed NPP candidate Marcuise N. Marak won the Williamnagar seat by bagging 9,558 votes, which was 37.5% of the total votes cast.

Of the constituency’s 32,345 voters, 78.8% had exercised their franchise.

Independent candidate Sengbath R. Marak was second with 4,698 votes while former minister Deborah C Marak of Congress, who had won the seat in 2013, finished third with 4,517 votes.

Krinilla R Mark, the widow of slain Nationalist Congress Party leader Jonathone N Sangma who was expected to gain sympathy votes, came fourth with 4,009 votes.

Election in Williamnagar had to be adjourned after extremists killed Mr. Sangma by blowing up his vehicle during campaign a week ahead of the Assembly polls on February 27. He was the candidate of NCP, which later decided to field his widow.

“The challenge of living up to the expectations of the people begins now,” Mr. Marak, who had won the State’s Rongrenggiri seat as an NCP candidate in 2008, said after the result was declared.

Prior to the poll in Williamnagar, the NPP-led alliance had 36 MLAs in the Meghalaya assembly. Apart from NPP’s 20 now and BJP’s two, the constituents are United Democratic Party (six LMAs), People’s Democratic Front (four), Hill State People’s Democratic Party (two), NCP (one) and two independents.