Meghalaya assembly Speaker and United Democratic Party (UDP) president Metbah Lyngdoh won the Mairang seat with a narrow margin of just 155 votes on Thursday in the Meghalaya assembly election 2023.
The other candidates in the fray were Congress’s Batskhem Ryntathiang, BJP’s Mark Rinaldy Sawkmie and Shanlang Warjri from Voice of the People Party.
A key part of the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA), UDP bagged six seats in the 2018 elections and was instrumental in the formation of the government with the National People’s Party, BJP and other regional parties. This year, however, the UDP hadn’t announced any pre-poll alliance.
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Mairang is an assembly constituency in the Eastern West Khasi Hills district. Metbah had won by a margin of 2914 votes – polling a total of 32,436 (35.38%) votes – in the 2018 state assembly elections.
Five things about Metbah:
1. One of the more popular faces of UDP and a three-time MLA, Metbah finished his studies from Sankardev College, Shillong.
2. The 53-year-old was the minister of tourism in the Conrad Sangma-led government in 2018.
3. Metbah assumed the top post in the UDP the following year.
4. After the assembly speaker’s post was left void post the death of former state CM and speaker Donkupar Roy, Metbah took over the position.
5. Metbah bagged the Mairang seat in 2008 and retained the constituency in the 2013 and 2018 elections
Thanking the people of Meghalaya for voting for NPP, Sangma on Thursday said the party was still short of a few seats for majority and will wait for the final results before deciding on the way forward.
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The NPP has won eight seats and is leading in over 20 other constituencies as the counting of votes was underway. UDP candidates won in eight seats, while its nominees were leading in four other constituencies, as per the election commission website.
