Shillong: Balajied Kupar Synrem, a candidate of the United Democratic Party candidate won the by-poll to Shella Assembly constituency in Meghalaya by over 6000 votes.
With this win, the UDP has now 9 MLAs in the 60-member Meghalaya seat. The bye-election was necessitated due to the death of UDP president Donkupar Roy, who had represented the seat for a record seven times, earlier this year. Synrem is the son of Donkupar Roy.
Roy was a former chief minister and the speaker of the 10th Meghalaya Assembly. He was also the president of the UDP and had last won the seat in 2018 by a slim margin of only 370 votes.
Synrem secured 12,002 votes while his nearest rival Independent candidate Grace Mary Kharpuri bagged 5,781 votes.
UDP president Metbah Lyngdoh, who is also the assembly speaker, congratulated Synrem on winning the seat.
“I congratulate the people of Shella for choosing Balajied as their representative in the Assembly. I am optimistic that he will emulate his father while serving his people and to strive towards overall development,” Lyngdoh said.
The seat from Meghalaya assembly had recorded a voter turnout of 79.83 per cent, as per reports. The notification for the by-election was issued on September 23 and the nomination process had begun the same day. Elections to the 59-member Meghalaya Assembly were held in 2018.
The October 21 by-election was the third since last year. The first by-election in the current Assembly was held for the Ampati seat in 2018.