Cong, Left win bypolls in Meghalaya & Tripura

Shillong/Agartala: The ruling Congress retained its hold in Meghalaya by winning the Chokpot assembly constituency while the Left Front remained invincible in Tripura by winning the two assembly constituencies of Pratapgarh and Surma in the byelections held on Saturday.
In Chokpot, Congress candidate Blubell R Sangma defeated Philipole Marak of National People’s Party by a margin of 2,550 votes.“While Blubell secured 8,042 votes, Philipole secured 5,492 votes,” an official in the state election department said.
The other candidates, Kalpana D Sangma from Garo National Council (GNC) and Thinkerwin R Marak (Independent), secured 5,009 and 1,189 votes respectively.
The Chokpot assembly constituency fell vacant following the death of Garo National Council legislator, Clifford R Marak, earlier this year. While Clifford R Marak’s widow, Kalpana Sangma, contested on GNC ticket, the Congress winner is the wife of former legislator Mason S Sangma.
Altogether, 83.11 per cent voters had exercised their franchise for this byelection last Saturday, which was held in a peaceful atmosphere, despite militancy being rampant in the Garo Hills.
In Tripura, BJP emerged as second in terms of vote share overtaking Congress, which forfeited the security. “CPM secured 62.10 per cent and 67.40 per cent of votes in Pratapgarh and Surma constituencies respectively while BJP got 23.05 and 23.07 per cent votes. Congress got 11.69 per cent and 7.32 per cent votes respectively,” said joint chief electoral officer D Modak. The CPM won the Pratapgarh seat for the 9th consecutive term and Surma for the 8th time in a row.
CPM candidate Ramu Das in Pratapgarh has defeated his nearest rival of BJP Mousumi Das by a margin of more than 17,000 votes. The CPM got 27,555 votes, BJP (10,229 votes) and Congress secured only 5,187 votes in Pratapgarh.
Similarly, in Surma constituency, CPM candidate Anjan Das defeated his nearest rival from BJP Ashish Das by a margin of more than 15,000 votes. While CPM candidate obtained 23,275 votes in Surma, the BJP candidate got 7966 votes and Congress candidate got only 2,528 votes.