In a boost to the ruling National People’s Party (NPP), party candidate and chief minister’s wife Mehtab Chandee Agitok Sangma won the Gambegre constituency by poll by a margin of over 4,594 votes.
Counting began at 8 am and in all the four rounds, NPP had an edge over its closest rival Sahiarani M Sangma of the Trinamool Congress.
Mehtab secured 12,666 votes while her nearest rival candidate Sadhiarani M Sangma of AITC managed to secure 8075 votes, followed by Congress’ Jingjang M Marak with 7687 votes.
With this win, the NPP strength in the House increased to 32 in the 60-member Meghalaya Legislative Assembly.
“The message is loud and clear that people have voted for change and development, which the party has been promoting through the courageous leadership,” Mehtab said.
“Previously we could never win this seat but the people of Gambegre have voted for change. The whole of Garo Hills and Meghalaya is experiencing it at the moment with the NPP in the government and we will do our best to ensure that we do the best for the people,” the newly elected MLA said.
Meanwhile, the chief minister and national president of the NPP said that it was heartening to see that people voted for development even as he added that the party will ensure that the party will do whatever possible to fulfil the promises.
“There are many challenges but we will do our best to serve the people of Gambegre,” he said.
Sangma also thanked all the party workers, leaders, MLAs and MDCs who worked hard to ensure that their candidate wins.
Government spokesperson and cabinet minister Paul Lyngdoh said that the NPP candidate’s win in Gambegre by-poll is an endorsement of the MDA 2.0 government’s performance.
“Do not forget that as recently as May this year we had the Lok Sabha polls where the Congress had swept the Tura Parliamentary seat. So in a way it shows that politics is very dynamic and even a week is a long time,” Lyngdoh told reporters on the sidelines of a programme.
He also said that the win for the NPP also demonstrates that the electorate of Gambegre have clearly shown their wisdom by electing somebody who is highly qualified as the NPP candidate.
