Chief Minister Conrad Sangma’s National People’s Party (NPP) won 26 seats in the 59-member assembly in Meghalaya in the results declared on Thursday.
The UDP on the other hand bagged 11 seats. The TMC and Congress have won 5 seats each, while the Voice of the People Party has won 4 seats.
In the 60-member assembly, a party has to win at least 31 seats to go past the majority mark.
Meanwhile, the BJP, HSPDP, PDF and independent candidates won 2 seats each.
Conrad Sangma defeated his rival Bernard Marak of the BJP and won the South Tura constituency with 10,090 votes. Marak managed to receive 7,260 votes.
The Congress witnessed the biggest setback in the multi-cornered contest in the northeastern state. While the party was the single-largest in 2018, this year it saw their seat share fall to single digits.
In a major setback to the Congress, its Meghalaya unit president and Lok Sabha MP Vincent Pala lost the assembly election. He was defeated by the NPP candidate Santa Mary Shylla.
Pala was contesting from the Sutnga Saipung assembly seat. He got 14,866 votes while Shylla bagged 16,719 votes.
On the other hand, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma announced that the BJP will support NPP in forming next government in Meghalaya.
"Chief Minister of Meghalaya Conrad Sangma called Amit Shah ji, Hon'ble Home Minister and sought his support and blessings in forming the new Government," tweeted CM Sarma.
