TURA: This was supposed to have been an election like any other before, except it came with a twist.
A month before the polls, political pundits had expected a walk over by the Congress. But a sudden surge of NPP wave, just weeks before campaign closed, put paid to the Congress plans and proved political pundits wrong.
For the Congress which went to the poll not only to save a party bastion but also salvage a family pride, the results are only a digit more to their dwindling sway.
As for the NPP, which put up a show of strength, the loss is one to reckon with and reflect on more winnable strategies.
This was perhaps the first election in the history of Garo Hills where both sides gave their everything.
The Congress cast in their leaders not just from the Khasi and Jaintia Hills, led by Charles Pyngrope and a host of elected legislators, but even the Mahila President Sushmita Dev from Assam.
To better them, the NPP swarmed the Ampati region with its leaders from as far as distant Manipur and Nagaland to showcase the party’s united northeast stand. Manipur deputy chief minister and his cabinet colleagues alongside the Nagaland NPP legislator were in the thick of campaign mobilizing the party supporters.
At the end it was a close call as the numbers revealed a massive slide in the Congress victory margin.
The look of concern on the faces of Congress supporters were palpable outside the counting hall when it became known that the NPP had edged past them, albeit 63 votes, during the second round of counting.
Though its fortunes quickly turned, Congress supporters decided to rest easy only after it was made known that the gap had widened beyond a point of return.
As for the NPP, which put up a show of strength, the loss is one to reckon with and reflect on more winnable strategies.
In a democracy numbers alone count, and while the Congress only has the consolation of the arithmetic with it, the NPP incursions are a curious pointer to the things likely to come in the future.