SHILLONG: The lone woman candidate for the Shella bypoll, Grace Mary Kharpuri, expressed shock at her defeat and said she had never expected such an overwhelming victory margin for UDP’s Balajiedkupar Synrem who secured 6221 more votes than the former.
Synrem polled 12002 votes while Kharpuri’s tally was 5781.
Kharpuri, who was at the counting centre in the Sub-Divisional Office at Sohra, left immediately after results for the third round of counting were declared.
Before departing, she told reporters that her calculation and the results did not tally. “Where things went wrong I just don’t know”, she said, while accepting the people’s mandate.
Kharpuri quit the Congress after being denied the party ticket and contested as an Independent. The result was also a big letdown for the PDF, an ally in the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA), with its candidate Mosjo Rockfeller Wanswett securing the third spot with 4327 votes.
In the last general elections in 2018, PDF candidate and Mosjo’s brother, Leston Wanswett, had secured the second place securing just 370 votes less than the winner, Donkupar Roy.
The PDF was banking on the previous near-win mark of Leston which was shattered when Leston’s brother, Mosjo, came third.
The UDP had, earlier, appealed to the allies in the MDA to not field their candidates for the bypoll. However, both PDF and BJP contested the election.
BJP had fielded Joshua Warjri who secured 742 votes.
Congress candidate Batyngshain Ryngnga got 1715 votes while the other Independent candidate in the fray, Komen Laitmon, secured 444 votes.