Big leap by NPP in Meghalaya, Congress collapses, Trinamool shines

SHILLONG: Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA), a BJP ally, has almost secured power in Meghalaya. As per latest reports, NPP is leading in 25 seats and BJP in four. 31 seats are required for absolute majority. Reports suggest that no subversions are likely to happen here.

Congress, which was the single largest party in the 2018 assembly elections, is now ahead in just five seats. Trinamool Congress, which has come to contest with the aim of establishing its presence in Meghalaya, is leading in seven seats. After the 2018 assembly elections, the NPP, UDP and BJP took power in an alliance, but this time, the NPP and the BJP contested alone. The lead indicates that the BJP was unable to create major gains.

BJP was part of the government in Meghalaya last time through clever tactics. When the 2018 election results came out, the Congress was the single largest party with 21 seats. The then Governor helped to get into an alliance by unifying the small parties of the state and to form a government by excluding the Congress. Meghalaya Democratic Alliance led by the Nationalist People's Party of Conrad Sangma, also included regional parties United Democratic Party (UDP), People's Democratic Front (PDP), Hill State People's Democratic Party (HS PDP) and a few independents along with BJP. Thus, the Congress was thrown out of power.

After this, we could see the massive collapse of the Congress. Soon the MLAs left the Congress one by one. In November 2021, the downfall of the Congress was complete when 12 Congress MLAs joined the Trinamool Congress under the leadership of former Chief Minister Mukul Sangma. It became a bumper lottery for Trinamool which did not win even a single seat in the election.