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Meghalaya: UDP candidate wins Sohiong constituency by over 3,400 votes
Thabah polled 16,679, while Malngiang polled 13,257 votes in all. At a distant third was S. Osborne Kharjana of the Indian National Congress (INC), who only managed to secure 1,762 votes in what used to be a Congress bastion
Synshar Kupar Roy Lyngdoh Thabah of the United Democratic Party (UDP) romped home to victory winning by the 23-Sohiong assembly constituency bypolls by a comfortable margin of 3,422 votes against Samlin Malngiang of the National People’s Party (NPP).
Thabah polled 16,679, while Malngiang polled 13,257 votes in all. At a distant third was S. Osborne Kharjana of the Indian National Congress (INC), who only managed to secure 1,762 votes in what used to be a Congress bastion.
NOTA took the fourth slot with 272 voters. The remaining three candidates did not even cross the three-digit mark, with Stodingstar Thabah of the All-India Trinamool Congress (AITC) securing 89 votes, Sandondor Ryntathiang getting 62 votes and Seraph Eric Kharbuki of the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) managing only 40 votes.
Also Read: Meghalaya: 91.87% voter turnout in Sohiong bypoll with higher women participation
After seven rounds of counting the tabulate results, including postal ballots, were declared by the election commission, said Frederick Roy Kharkongor, state chief electoral officer, adding in all, 32,161 votes were counted and found to be valid.
The by-poll was necessitated following the death of UDP candidate HDR Lyngdoh ahead of the assembly elections held in the rest of the state on February 27.
Voting for the Sohiong constituency adjourned poll saw a 91.92% turnout of the total 34,783 voters in all 63 polling stations, a figure much higher than the previous years, according to officials.
The counting of votes for bypoll elections to the Sohiong assembly constituency in Meghalaya’s East Khasi Hills began at 8am on Saturday.
“While the first six rounds had ten tables, the last and seventh rounds had only three tables and five VVPATs were randomly selected for cross-verification,” said Kharkongor.
The NPP, UDP and Congress were the three major players in the election. With this win, the UDP now has a dozen legislators making it the largest political party after the NPP which has 26 MLAs in the house of 60 members.
“We all worked hard concertedly, right from the candidate, his followers and party workers to achieve this goal. It is a victory of the party and the spirit of regionalism that prevailed in the minds of the electorate, and we are very happy about it. I thank the people of Sohion for putting their faith and trust in us,” UDP vice president Allantry F Dkhar said.
