TURA: Congress candidate Mukul Sangma could secure only six while the winner and NPP candidate Agatha Sangma bagged 18 of the 24 Assembly segments under Tura Lok Sabha seat.
Agatha’s margin of victory has touched 64,030 after the last vote had been counted, according to the Election Commission.
The youngest daughter of Late P A Sangma polled 3,04,455 votes, including 270 postal ballots, while her Congress rival Mukul polled 2,40,425, including 185 postal ballots.
The NPP candidate won in three out of the four seats in North Garo Hill — Mendipathar, Bajengdoba and Kharkutta. Mukul managed to scrape through by a wafer thin margin of 497 votes in Resubelpara which ironically had always voted overwhelmingly for P A Sangma and his family.
The margin of Agatha’s victory in the four constituencies of North Garo Hills was 9891.
In East Garo Hills, Rongjeng constituency gave the highest victory margin of 11,044 votes to the NPP. A total of 17,206 votes went in favour of Agatha against Mukul’s 6162.
The margin of victory in the three assembly segments of East Garo Hills was 13,106 votes. But, Songsak voters endorsed their sitting legislator and Congress candidate who overtook Agatha by 1831 votes in his home turf.
The largest district of West in Garo Hills, which comprises eleven assembly segments, gave the NPP a 38,817 margin of victory. Agatha polled 1,41,312 while Mukul polled 102495 votes.
Interestingly, the Phulbari assembly segment currently held by NPP legislator S G Esmatur Mominin went in favour of the Congress by a slender margin of 467 votes.
But it was in South West Garo Hills district, a long known citadel of the Congress and family of Mukul, where the Congress turned the tables on the NPP winning in two out of three assembly segments and for the first time having on its side the margin of victory.
Mukul overtook Agatha to register a 5691-margin of victory for the Congress in the district. He polled 38,169 against Agatha’s 32,478. The Congress candidate got more votes in the constituencies of his daughter and wife, Ampati and Mahendraganj, respectively.
In South Garo Hills where three assembly segments, Baghmara, Chokpot and Siju-Rongara, make up the remaining part of Tura parliamentary seat, Agatha won in Baghmara and Siju-Rongara whereas Mukul won in Chokpot where the sitting MLA is from his party. The margin of victory in South for the NPP was 7822 votes.
