Exit poll figures for the Meghalaya Assembly elections have predicted a rerun of the ruling National People’s Party (NPP) in power, with no party predictably being able to cross the halfway mark in the 60-member Assembly on its own.
The Times Now-ETG and India Today-Axis MyIndia exit polls have predicted a hung house in Meghalaya.
According to the Times Now-ETG Exit poll, Sangma’s NPP could get 22 seats, the BJP 5, Others 30 while Trinamool Congress led by former chief minister Mukul Sangma was likely to draw a blank.
India Today-My Axis also predicted the NPP to emerge as the single-largest party with 18-24 seats, but still short of majority, forcing it to look towards other parties to shore up figures. It predicted 6-12 seats for the Congress, 5-9 seats for the TMC and the 4-8 seats for the BJP.
The Zee News-Matrize exit poll predicted that the National People’s Party will retain Meghalaya with 21 to 26 seats. Also, it predicted 8-13 seats for Trinamool and 6-11 seats for BJP.
According to the India News-Jan Ki Baat exit poll survey, the NPP is predicted to get 11-16 seats, the BJP 3-7 seats, Congress 6-11 seats, and Others, 5-12 seats. The survey also predicted no seats for the TMC.
Sangma hints at post-poll alliance
Following the exit polls predictions, Chief Minister Conrad Sangma hinted at a post-poll alliance. “We will keep all our options open to form a stable government. We are happy to see the trend is in line as we expected to get more seats than we received last time,” he said.
“When it comes to forming a stable government as and when the situation arrives we will move forward considering the best interest of the state,” he added, as quoted by ANI.
Polling in 59 out of the 60 Assembly constituencies of Meghalaya which took place on Monday saw a voter turnout of 76.66 per cent. The counting of votes will be undertaken on March 2, along with Tripura and Nagaland elections.