SHILLONG: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which was leading an aggressive campaign and had received success after the joining of four sitting MLAs fell flat in Meghalaya as the party could manage only two seats.
While AL Hek won the Pynthorumkhrah seat, Sanbor Shullai won from South Shillong. However, the BJP which had fielded as many as 47 candidates for the first time in Meghalaya certainly did not get the response which it had desired from the people of Meghalaya.
BJP Meghalaya in-charge, Nalin Kohli however downplayed the party’s performance as he believed that the party has done well in the state.
Kohli said that apart from winning two seats, the BJP stood second in seven constituencies whereas BJP lost North Shillong by a narrow margin of around 300-400 votes. “Infact our vote share has gone up from 1.5 percent to 10 percent here,” Kohli said.
He also said that the party’s assessment on its performance in the state will take some time.
Two sitting independent MLAs Justine Dkhar and Robinus Syngkon who backed out from the Congress led MUA Government to join the BJP were also defeated in Khliehriat and Mowkaiaw respectively.
The result has left the saffron party red faced after extensive campaigning by BJP bigwigs in the state, which included Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP party president, Amit Shah besides other regional and national party leaders.
