The trend of ousting the leadership of the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council (GHADC) was continued in this week’s election, results of which were announced today, with voters sweeping aside the incumbent Chief Executive Member, Chairman, Deputy CEM and other executive committee members.
The Congress Party fell short of a majority but emerged as the single largest party in the 29 seats that went to the polls on Monday. It won 12 seats but also missed a few tricks by denying party tickets to two candidates who performed well on their own – one (Aktar Ali) winning and the other (former MDC Brigady Marak) coming a close second. Had the Congress played its cards properly, it would have been very close to a majority and would need less help to form the EC.
For the National People’s Party (NPP), the large crowds that attended its campaigns could not translate into votes. While they still managed to win 11 seats, there is still a feeling that they actually lost more ground that they would have liked.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), meanwhile, appears confident of a better performance going forward after two of their candidates won seats – Tura and Dalu.
The UDP, while not winning anything in this current election, will still feel happy with their performance as major gains were made in terms of vote share and other parties will be compelled to take the UDP seriously from now on. There are major gains to be had for the regional outfit if it can build on what it achieved in the election, provided it finds the right candidates to take it forward in the Garo Hills.
One of the biggest upsets in the current election was the defeat of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MLA, Saleng A Sangma, who was beaten by over 900 votes by the NPP’s Rakesh A Sangma in the Babelapara constituency. Saleng was a favourite to win the seat and the defeat will mean going back to the drawing board as the signs ahead of the MLA elections, which are due by 2023, seem ominous.
The defeat of the former CEM, Dipul Marak, will also rankle for the NPP as it was one of the major surprises from the election. He lost to the less fancied independent candidate, Arbinstone Marak, by over 1,800 votes in Rochonpara. Dipul was a two-time MDC. Arbinstone, however, is expected to align himself with the NPP as he had been an NPP member prior to the election and only contested as an independent due to not being given a party ticket.
Furthermore, the loss of Deputy CEM Dolly K Sangma to Ferdinand D Shira of the Congress in Damas was another major upset. Dolly was defeated by a massive 4,700 votes. The defeat of the former Chairman of the GHADC, Denang T Sangma, was another major upset. He was beaten by the Congress’ Alphonsush Marak by exactly 1,100 votes.
The defeat of another senior NPP leader, Sukharam Sangma, in Rongrong to Rinaldo K Sangma of the Congress was another result that surprised a few, though the Congress had been confident of Rinaldo’s strong performance.
On the other hand, many results were on expected lines, with Cherak W Momin from Kharkutta winning to become a second time MDC. Benedict Marak (Raksamgre) and Dhormonath Sangma (Naguapara) of the NPP were expected to win and did so. Stevie Marak of Boldamgre was also a front runner as was Sadhiarani Sangma (Dengnakpara). Both won their seats comfortably.
