SHILLONG: The margin of any winning candidate in the Shella bypoll may follow the trend which late Donkupar Roy had set in the past elections considering the presence of multiple candidates.
Roy, who contested the Shella Assembly seat seven consecutive terms from 1988, had secured less than one thousand votes as victory margin.
His victory margin ranged from just 222 votes in 2003 to 939 in 2008.
Like the current bypoll, there were multiple candidates in the past polls in Shella.
In 1988, Roy had defeated his rival S. Galmendar Lyngdoh of HPU by a margin of 418 votes.
In 1993, the UDP leader won the seat by a margin of 742 votes and his opponent was yet again Syiemlieh, who contested on Congress ticket.
In 1998, Roy defeated the same rival Syiemlieh from the Congress by a margin of 811 votes.
In 2003, the victory margin of Roy against Pyndapborthiaw Saibon of KHNAM was just 222. Though Syiemlieh again contested on Congress ticket, he secured third position.
The winning margin of Roy in other years was 939 in 2008, 355 in 2013 and 370 in 2018. For the October 21 bypoll, besides UDP’s Balajiedkupar Synrem, the son of Roy, there are other five candidates in the fray- Mosjo Rockfeller Wanswett (PDF), Independents Grace Mary Kharpuri and Komen Laitmon, BJP’s Joshua Warjri and Batyngshain Ryngnga of the Congress. All the candidates have their own vote banks.
