In Shillong, the other constituency in the state, existing Congress MP Repil Kyndia is also facing a tough time in a nine-cornered contest.

Sangma left the Congress to form the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) with Sarad Pawar, protesting against the Congress projection of `foreigner' Sonia Gandhi as the Prime Ministerial candidate.

Till the last election, Sangma contested with the `panja' symbol from this most backward constituency in the Garo Hills. This time, his poll symbol is the `wallclock'. The change in symbol is putting Sangma in the backseat, according to Congress leaders and workers in Meghalaya. They claim that Tura is a traditional Congress seat and its candidate and veteran leader Atul C Marak has a better chance to win as `panja' is well-known among the voters.

Moreover, Sonia's last moment visit to Tura and her promise of a special economic package for the north-east, especially Meghalaya, has boosted the morale of the Congressmen. She has promised special attention to boost tourism, border trade as well as forest and coal-based industries.

On the other hand, Sangma's followers are banking on this former Lok Sabha speakers' personal image. They claim that it was Sangma, who popularised `panja' in Tura. He is considered to be their own man. He is now popularising the `wallclock' symbol and people will ultimately accept it.

However, they admit that popularising a new symbol is very difficult, particularly in a constituency, where most of the voters are illiterate."We can't understand why Sangma, being a Christian, is opposing Sonia Gandhi becoming Prime Minister," many ask in this Christian-dominated state, where around 75 per cent of the population are Christians.

For the Bharatiya Janata Party, it is very difficult to penetrate and increase influence in Meghalaya. "Even then, we are increasing our base steadily. For example, we have three MLAs in Meghalaya," a BJP activist said.BJP's M Agitok, CPI's Robin Rema and an Independent candidate are also in the fray in Tura. And BJP supporters believe that if the traditional Congress voters were sharply divided, the possibility of BJP winning the seat cannot be totally ruled out.

Political observers believe that Tura will, for the first time in its history, see a keenly-contested election.

Shillong Parliamentary constituency in Khashi & Jayanti Hills was never a stronghold of any political party or group for a long time. In the last Lok Sabha elections, Kyndia, who resigned from the post of Governor of Mizoram to contest the polls, bagged the seat with a slender margin of around 10,000 votes. The split in the Congress and formation of NCP have made Kyndia's chances very difficult as NCP supporters are likely to vote against Congress.