Meghalaya Assembly Polls: NPP Leads In 11 Seats

The ruling National People's Party (NPP) in Meghalaya was leading in 11 of the 59 Assembly constituencies of Meghalaya while the United Democratic Party (UDP) was leading in 5, according to the latest trend shared by the Election Commission on Thursday.

BJP and the Congress are leading in 3 seats each while the Trinamool Congress was leading in 2 seats.

According to the data shared by the EC at 10 am, Trinamool Congress state chief and former chief minister Mukul Sangma were leading from Songsak by a margin of 457 against National People's Party's Nihim D Shira. 

NPP's Pongseng Marak was leading from the Bajengdoba constituency by a margin of 794 against the TMC's Tengrak R. Marak. 

NPP candidate Sosthenes Sohtun was leading in Jirang by a margin of 1,015 votes against the Congress' Adrian Lambert Mylliem.

The counting in all 13 centres commenced at 8 am. Initially, the postal ballots were counted for the first 30 minutes followed by the counting of polled votes in the EVM Control Units.

Shillong has the States maximum number of 14 Counting Halls, one each for each assembly constituency.

West Garo Hills District Counting Centre caters to 11 assembly constituencies and is the second-largest counting centre in the state.

Election Commission has deployed 27 Counting Observers and over 500 micro observers are assisting the Counting Observers at each table. 

Ahead of counting votes for Meghalaya assembly polls, Meghalaya Chief Minister and National People's Party (NPP) chief Conrad Sangma met Assam Chief Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma in Guwahati on Tuesday night. Notably, Sarma is the convenor of the North-East Democratic Alliance (NEDA)

A top source of NPP told ANI that both Chief Ministers took part in a crucial meeting in a hotel in Guwahati and the meeting lasted for half an hour.l

The Meghalaya Chief Minister returned to Tura in West Garo Hills after the meeting. Earlier on Tuesday, Meghalaya CM hinted at forming a post-poll alliance to form the government. Each table has a counting Observer assisted by four counting assistants.

Meghalaya recorded a voting percentage of over 76 per cent on Monday. Polling was held at 3,419 polling stations across 59 Assembly constituencies in the state.

Of the 60 Assembly constituencies in Meghalaya, 36 constituencies fall in Khasi, Jaintia Hills region while 24 are in Garo Hills region.

However, polling for the Sohiong Assembly constituency was postponed following the demise of the state's former Home Minister and United Democratic Party (UDP) candidate from the seat HDR Lyngdoh. (ANI)