Over 77% Turnout in Meghalaya Bypolls as CM Conrad Sangma Contests South Tura

More than 77% of voters turned out on Thursday in peaceful bypolls to two Meghalaya assembly seats, South Tura and Ranikor, the state’s Chief Electoral Officer F R Kharkongor said. Results are due on August 27. Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma, currently the Tura MP, is contesting South Tura in West Garo Hills on a National People’s Party (NPP) ticket.

Turnout and polling

In South Tura, 72.89% of the 30,231 voters cast their ballots; in Ranikor, 82.1% of 29,685 voters did. In the assembly election earlier this year, Ranikor had recorded 89.5% and South Tura 73.59%. Faulty EVMs were reported from seven booths (four in Ranikor, three in South Tura) and were replaced. In Ranikor, the election office used 10 runners to carry messages between remote polling stations and the district office four times during the day.

The contests

Ranikor falls in the Shillong Lok Sabha seat and South Tura in the Tura seat. South Tura was vacated for Sangma by his sister Agatha Sangma, who may contest next year’s Lok Sabha election. Sangma, son of former chief minister Purno Sangma, took office as chief minister on March 6, backed by regional parties and the BJP. He faces Charlotte W Momin of the Congress and independents John Leslee K Sangma (a former legislator) and Chris Kabul A Sangma, and appears well placed in a family stronghold.

Ranikor fell vacant after Martin K Danggo, a Congress MLA five times over, quit to contest on an NPP ticket. The NPP’s allies, the UDP and the PDF, have put up candidates against him, raising questions about coalition harmony.

What is at stake

A win would meet the constitutional requirement for Sangma to become an MLA to stay in office, but the government is not at risk: it has the support of 34 MLAs in the 60-member House, 19 of them from the NPP, six from the UDP, four from the PDF, two each from the HSPDP and the BJP, and one independent.

Background

In the 2018 assembly election, the Congress won 21 seats and the NPP 20, and Conrad Sangma became chief minister.

See also: Constituencies

Originally published on 24 August 2018. Rewritten on 9 October 2026.

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