The NPP defeat in the Sohiong Assembly constituency has shocked the party.
According to sources, NPP leaders did not expect such an embarrassing loss by over 3400 votes.
“It is a shocking defeat. We never realise that the poll result would turn out to be this way. The party will sit and examine where we have gone wrong,” a party leader said.
It may be mentioned that Chief Minister Conrad Sangma and Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong have campaigned hard to muster support for party candidate Samlin Malngiang.
While Sangma promised to make Sohiong as a model constituency, Tynsong even said that Sohiong would reap the fruits of development once the NPP won from the constituency.
Both Sangma and Tynsong have spent more time campaigning in Sohiong as compared to leaders of UDP and other political parties.
The high pitched election campaign also witnessed attacks and counter attacks between UDP and NPP.
With his defeat, Malngiang is the latest MLA from Khasi Hills to lose the poll after joining the NPP.
Malngiang won the 2018 elections on the HSPDP ticket. He switched over to the NPP ahead of the Sohiong polls.
It may be noted that cabinet minister Hamletson Dohling, Mohindro Rapsang, Jason Sawkmie Mawlong and Kimfa S. Marbaniang lost the 2023 polls after they contested on the NPP symbol.
However, the outcome of the Sohiong poll will not have any impact on the NPP-headed Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) government led by Chief Minister and NPP president Conrad Sangma.
Although the NPP emerged as the single-largest party with 28 seats, the UDP is the second largest constituent of the coalition government. Even during the previous Conrad Sangma-led government, the UDP was its ally.
