SHILLONG: He was like a phoenix. Though the sudden death of the stalwart of Garo Hills, Purno A Sangma, at the age of 68 on March 4 this year had cast a gloom over the people of Meghalaya, the resurrection of his party was unexpected. After the 2013 Assembly polls, NPP, which was formed by Sangma had just two MLAs, his son James Sangma and another member Nihim D. Shira.
Later in the elections to the GHADC in 2015, NPP emerged as the single largest party thereby leading the Garo Hills Progressive Alliance. A year after, the sudden demise of the NPP leader was a setback for the party that he had nurtured. In less than two months, the Election Commission of India announced the by-polls to Tura Lok Sabha seat scheduled for May 16. The Congress fielded Dikkanchi D. Shira, the wife of Chief Minister Mukul Sangma, while the NPP’s choice was Conrad Sangma to follow in the footsteps of his father.
There were varied opinions on whether the sympathy wave will work or not and the Congress was over-confident this time to clinch the seat with the Chief Minister declaring that NPP would be wiped out from Garo Hills after the polls.
In the keenly fought by-polls that Congress saw as an opportunity to end Purno’s era, Conrad won the seat with a huge margin of 1,92,212 votes.
The blow to the Congress was not the victory margin of nearly 2 lakh votes, but the defeat in 23 Assembly segments out of the total 24.
Only in Ampati, which is the constituency of the Chief Minister, the Congress candidate had an edge.
Several politicians had acknowledged that though invisible, Sangma’s love for the people was repaid by them in the by-election.
After the victory, Conrad dedicated his win to his late father saying the people of Garo Hills had reposed their faith unfailingly. He had reiterated that the result was the love of the people for his father.
