Multipoint Contest Expected for Meghalaya Elections

SHILLONG: The Meghalaya assembly elections will take place next Monday, February 27 and the political parties have shifted their election campaigns to the high gears. One of the main battles to look out for in the upcoming elections in the northeast Indian state of Meghalaya is between the two Sangmas of the state.

Conrad K Sangma leads the National People’s Party of the state of Meghalaya. This party was able to gain the second-largest number of seats in the elections of 2018 with 19 out of the total 60 seats of the state assembly. But he managed to tie up with multiple local parties as well as the Bharatiya Janata Party which had managed less than a handful of seats in the elections. The party led the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance which ran the state assembly for one term under Conrad K Sangma as the Chief Minister.

Mukul Sangma was the most popular political face after the passing of the previous leader PA Sangma and was expected to form the Indian National Congress. They also emerged as the party with the most number of elected candidates in the state. Congress under Mukul Sangma bagged 21 out of the 60 seats. It was a good number, but not good enough to claim the state government, eventually becoming the main opposition against the National People’s Party-led Meghalaya Democratic Alliance at the helm.

Mukul Sangma and several other Congress members of the legislative assembly shifted to the Trinamool Congress few years later. This year’s election in the state of Meghalaya is expected to be a multipoint contest. While Conrad Sangma led National People’s Party has cut ties with the Bharatiya Janta Party, several other parties have also placed their own candidates for the upcoming elections. Now the National People’s Party, Trinamool Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party are expected to battle out to form the government in the state.

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