Campaigning for the Assembly by-election in Gambegre constituency ended today evening with candidates of the Congress, NPP and Trinamool Congress making their last ditch efforts to woo voters.
The by-election in Gambegre constituency will be held on November 13 and the votes will be counted on November 23.
There are six contenders for the seat. They included Chief Minister Conrad Sangma’s wife Mehtab Chandee Sangma (NPP), Jingjang M. Marak (Congress), Sadhiarani M. Sangma (Trinamool Congress), Bernard N. Marak (BJP) and two independent candidates – Sengkrabirth Marak and Jerry A. Sangma.
The by-election for Gambegre constituency was necessitated after former MLA Saleng A. Sangma representing this constituency was elected to the Lok Sabha.
Gambegre has a total of 32,254 voters. These include 16,331 male voters and 15,923 female voters.
According to State election officials, there are three service voters, 993 young voters, 64 senior citizen voters and 100 voters with physical disabilities.
Of the 51 polling stations, 31 are identified as critical polling stations.
Chief Minister Conrad Sangma along with NPP ministers and MLAs have made all out efforts to ensure the victory of Mehtab Chandee Sangma in the by-poll.
It was alleged that the NPP had made a lot of promises and also conducted house to house campaigning in the constituency to reach out to the voters.
The Congress candidate Jingjang M. Marak is however banking on the clout of Saleng A. Sangma who had represented the seat thrice. Saleng had also worked hard to campaign for Jingjang in many parts of the constituency.
Trinamool Congress leaders who included leader of opposition Dr. Mukul Sangma, former minister Zenith Sangma along with party MLAs and MDCs have also campaigned for party candidate Sadhiarani M. Sangma.
Sadhiarani is the wife of Zenith M. Sangma. She is also a sitting MDC from Dengnakpara constituency.
Sadhiarani had contested from the Gambegre seat twice in the past. In the 2023 Assembly election, she lost to Saleng Sangma by a margin of 2,871 votes.
Meanwhile, the State government has today announced that all government offices and educational institutions located in Gambegre Assembly Constituency shall remain closed on November 13 in order to enable every voter to exercise their franchise in connection with the by-election.
“Every person employed in any business, trade, industrial undertaking or any of the establishments governed by NI Act, 1881, shops and those which work on shift basis, a daily wage, casual worker who is a voter shall be entitled to the benefit of a paid holiday as provided in Section 135B of RP Act, 1951,” said an order issued by the Secretary to the General Administration Department.
