SHILLONG: The result of the election to Williamnagar Assembly has come as a shocker for the Congress while the NPP is over the moon with another Assembly seat in its kitty.
The NPP candidate, Marcuise N Marak, defeated his nearest rival Independent candidate, Sengbath R Marak, by a margin of 4860 votes. The NPP candidate secured a total of 9558 votes while Sengbath could manage to secure only 4698
NPP State President, W R Kharlukhi reiterated that the win would boost the party’s morale for contesting upcoming by-poll to Ampati Assembly constituency.
“Now our target is to get Ampati and we will give Congress a fight,”
Expressing happiness over wining the seat, Kharlukhi also underlined the important role played by the workers of the party in ensuring the victory for the party.
The Congress which was represented by sitting MLA, Deborah Marak failed to make any mark as the she secured just 4517 votes
Congress leader, John F Kharshiing said that the mandate had to be respected even as he admitted that during any bye elections, the party in power would always have an edge over other political parties during poll.
Stating that the party would introspect into the loss, he added that there was division of votes between between Independent candidate Sengbath Marak and the sitting MLA and Congress candidate. He also maintained that it was not easy to tackle anti-incumbency factor in any polls.
The state NCP working president, Vijay Raj said that the party would have to study the reason for the loss.
The BJP’s tall claims of making a mark in the Garo Hills through Williamnagar turned out to be a damp squib with its candidate Santosh Marak securing mere 865 votes
The BJP State president, Shibun Lyngdoh said that many central leaders of the party could not campaign for the candidate due to Karnataka elections and even many state leaders were presently campaigning in Karnataka. “Even our organization is not well organized there,” he said.