Meghalaya Assembly Election 2023, Voting Tomorrow: The results to the intensely fought Meghalaya elections will be declared on Thursday with the counting of votes scheduled to begin at 8 AM. Polls to elect new legislators to the 60-member Meghalaya Legislative Assembly were held on February 27. The voting was conducted in a free and fair manner with reports of any major untoward incident, officials said. The voter turnout was recorded at 85.25 per cent.
Exit poll results released on Monday hinted at a fight to the finish. Most exit polls have predicted the highest number of seats for Chief Minister Conrad Sangma-led National People’s Party, but short of the majority mark of 30.
The NPP, which has been leading the ruling alliance for the last five years, contested this election alone against former ally Bharatiya Janata Party, opposition TMC, and other regional parties such as the United Democratic Party and People’s Democratic Front.
Chief Minister Sangma is in the fray from the South Tura constituency where he took on militant-turned-politician Bernard Marak, who was arrested last year and later released on bail on the charge of running a brothel in his farmhouse and being involved in human trafficking. On the other hand, Leader of Opposition and TMC leader Mukul Sangma contested from two seats – Songsak and Tikrikilla. His wife D D Shira, brother, and his brother’s wife are also in the fray.
While the Congress and BJP fielded candidates on 59 seats each, the NPP has put up nominees in 56 constituencies, the TMC in 57 and the UDP in 46 seats.
A day after the exit polls predicted a hung house in Meghalaya, Chief Minister Sangma said he was keeping “all options open” to form a stable government. “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.
The Times Now-ETG Exit poll predicted 22 seats for the NPP, 5 for the BJP, 30 for Others and none for Trinamool Congress. The India Today-Axis MyIndia exit poll also saw the NPP emerging as the single-largest party with 18-24 seats, with Congress bagging 6-12 seats, the TMC, 5-9 seats, and the BJP ending up with 4-8 seats.
The Zee News-Matrize exit poll, however, predicted a majority for the National People’s Party with 21 to 26 seats, while it predicted 8-13 seats for Trinamool and 6-11 seats for BJP.