SHILLONG, March 15: A massive 45% of the Khasi and Jaintia voters made their choices clearly in favour of four regional parties of the soil — UDP, HSPDP, VPP and PDF — but they managed to capture only 19 out of a possible 36 seats.
According to a study, based on the recent results in the entire Khasi-Jaintia Hills, including Ri-Bhoi, had the Khasi-Jaintia parties managed a pre-poll tie-up, these 45% votes would potentially have given them a simple majority in the 11th house.
But that’s more wishful and academic and the results of the hustings reflect the prevailing tribal realpolitik in this part of the state.
The study reveals the UDP which fielded 29 candidates (barring Garo Hills), triumphed in 11 seats with a vote share of nearly 26%.
One of the old outfits, HSPDP which has been in existence even before Meghalaya was born, had set up nine candidates but secured two seats with a vote share of nearly 6%.
Another party with limited outreach, PDF bagged two seats for its 4.25% votes through eight nominees it had fielded.
The newbie VPP, in some two months since it was born, garnered 9.25% votes with four MLAs in its kitty having set up 18 candidates.
The results truly mirror the fractured and dissimilar nature of political priorities of the Khasi-Jaintia voters not helped by plethora of contestants. The multiple division of votes is once again seen as the undoing of these regional parties. Observers say that absence of any charismatic leader to inspire confidence has been the other bane of regional parties.
On the other hand, NPP which is an all-India party, obtained a handsome 27% votes and eight successes in the eastern part of the state. Thus, NPP appears to have negated the “Garo party” tag it somewhat suffered from in 2018. NPP rode on the persona of a suave Conrad Sangma who made sure that his vote bank in Garo Hills did not disintegrate while expanding base in rest of the state.
In the Khasi-Jaintia area, Congress (12%), TMC (5%) and BJP (7.5%) bagged three seats, one seat and two seats respectively.
An interesting sidelight is the diminishing voters’ preference for Independent candidates.
In the entire Khasi-Jaintia Hills, 17 Independent candidates were in the fray but only a solitary one met with success in Rambrai-Jyrngam constituency (Remington G. Momin). Barring one seat, all Independent candidates forfeited security deposit.
