NPP's Marcuise N Marak wins Williamnagar seat

A CORRESPONDENT

Shillong, May 1:  The ruling National People’s Party (NPP) on Tuesday won the Williamnagar Assembly seat. Its candidate Marcuise N Marak defeated his nearest rival and independent candidate Sengbath R Marak by a margin of 4,920 votes.

While Marcuise polled 9,656 votes, his nearest rival and independent candidate Sengbath R Marak polled 4,736 votes.

Congress candidate and sitting legislator Deborah C Marak came third with 4,554 votes, while Krenilla Marak, the wife of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) candidate Jonathone N Sangma who was killed in an IED blast, occupied the fourth slot with 4,040 votes.

With the victory, Marcuise has made a comeback to the State Assembly. Earlier, he was elected on an NCP ticket in 2008, but lost to Deborah in 2013 when he had contested on an NPP ticket.

The polling in the Williamnagar seat was deferred after NCP candidate Jonathone N Sangma was killed in an IED blast on February 18.  Altogether, nine candidates had contested for the Williamnagar seat. The poll for the Willamnagar seat was held on April 27.

After winning the Williamnagar seat, both the NPP and the Congress now have 20 seats each in the Meghalaya Assembly.

The Ampati seat, which was vacated by former Chief Minister Dr Mukul Sangma, will go to polls on May 28.

Dr Sangma who had contested from Ampati and Songsak in the February Assembly polls won both the seats. Later, he resigned from his home turf Amapti and retained the Songsak seat.

There are speculations that his daughter, Miani D Shira, will contest from the Ampati constituency.

The Meghalaya Assembly constitutes of the United Democratic Party with six seats, People’s Democratic Front with four seats, the BJP with two, Hills State People’s Democratic Part with two, one both from the Khun Hynniewtrep National Awakening Movement and NCP and three independent candidates.

Meanwhile, Meghalaya Chief Minister and National President of the NPP Conrad Kongkal Sangma, while congratulating Marcuise on his victory, said that he was confident that Marcuise would show his leadership quality and represent the voice and aspiration of the people of the Williamnagar constituency.

“Marcuise Marak has been a part of our party for long. He has also worked hard to strengthen the party. His experience and leadership qualities will help the NPP to work for the growth and development of the State,” Conrad said.

While dedicating the victory to his late father Purno Agitok Sangma, the Chief Minister said, “This is a not just a victory for Williamnagar but for the people of Meghalaya.”

 “I will try my best to work for the uplift of this area and all round development of the constituency,” Marcuise said.

Marcuise also said that as an MLA his priorities would be to develop road and educational infrastructure, provide safe drinking water facilities and solve the problem of unemployment, among others.