Congress largest party in Garo Hills mixed mandate

By Express News Service
GUWAHATI:  The election to the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council (GHADC) in Meghalaya, dubbed as the semifinal of ahead of the Assembly polls coming up next year, has produced a fractured mandate. The Congress emerged as the single largest party, winning 12 of the 29 seats where elections were held on April 12. The National People’s Party (NPP), which heads the state’s ruling coalition, came a close second with 11 seats.

The BJP, an ally of the NPP, bagged two seats, while the regional Garo National Council won one seat. Three seats went to Independent candidates. The NPP had won 10 seats in 2015 and formed the council with members from other parties who defected. They took advantage of non-applicability of the anti-defection law in the state’s tribal councils.

The BJP was ecstatic after the surprise victory in the two seats. Party MLA, AL Hek, who is also a minister, said the party’s state in-charge Chuba Ao would sit with the elected members and decide the future course of action. The GHADC has been mired in a controversy following allegations of largescale corruption. The BJP had flagged the issue and demanded an independent probe but the government ordered a five-year audit of income and expenditure.

BJP’s Bernard Marak won the prestigious Tura constituency which is under the South Tura Assembly segment represented by Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma. Marak is a former member of Achik National Volunteer Council, an armed militant group which signed a tripartite agreement with the state and Central government. An NPP leader said BJP is likely to support NPP in the GHADC and they are in talks with the Independents.

How many candidates and number of votersThere were a total of 182 candidates in the fray. The Congress and NPP had fielded their candidates in all 29 seats, while 20 BJP candidates contested the polls. The United Democratic Front failed to open its account. Voting was held on April 12 across 409 polling stations. The total number of voters taking into account all the constituencies was 7,43,717.