TURA: This was supposed to have been an election like any other, except it came with a twist.
A month before the polls, political pundits had expected it to be a cakewalk for the Congress. But a sudden surge of NPP wave, just weeks before campaign closed, made it look like the political pundits would get it wrong.
For the Congress which went to the poll not only to save a party bastion but also salvage a family pride, the Ampati by-poll result comes as a boost to the party’s dwindling sway.
As for the NPP, the loss comes as a setback but it is unlikely to have a major impact on the state’s political scenario.
The Ampati by-poll was a hotly contested affair with both sides giving everything in a bid to woo the voters.
The Congress cast in their leaders not just from the Khasi and Jaintia Hills, led by Charles Pyngrope and other legislators, but even the AICC Mahila president Sushmita Dev.
To better them, the NPP swarmed the Ampati region with its leaders from as far as Manipur and Nagaland to showcase the party’s united Northeast stand.
Manipur deputy chief minister Yumnam Joykumar Singh and his cabinet colleagues alongside the Nagaland NPP legislator were in the thick of campaign mobilising 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 by 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.
