2019 Lok Sabha Election Results for Meghalaya: Both NDA and UPA retain their north-east footholds, winning a seat each

With the all-important Lok Sabha polls concluding in the  world's largest democracy on Thursday, 1.3 billion citizens of India including an estimated 900 million-strong electorate now await the formation of the 17th Lok Sabha  with the 542 (the Vellore polls were countermanded) newly elected members to the lower house of India's Parliament and consequently, the process of forming the next government of India will enter its final stage. 

After the thrilling counting day on May 23 which ended in a huge triumph for the NDA and commencement of the formation of Modi Sarkar 2.0, Republic Media Network  presents the results which ended in Prime Minister Narendra Modi getting re-elected and the NDA winning a clear majority of 302 seats while the UPA suffered a blow managing to garner 52 seat

Results 2019 Lok Sabha elections:

In Meghalaya, the battle between the NDA alliance and the UPA alliance for the 2 Lok Sabha seats up for grabs saw the NDA and UPA split the power winning one seat each.

Republic Media Network called  the result on Sunday projecting a split win in favour of both NDA and UPA with the country's biggest exit poll - the double exit poll in collaboration with the nation's biggest pollsters Jan Ki Baat and CVoter - which presented a projection including granular projections from each of the states and union territories.

Republic Double Exit polls projections:

CVoter:

Seat Share:
In terms of seats, the NDA and UPA were each predicted to win 1 seat.

NDA: 1 seat
UPA: 1 seat

Vote Share:

The 'Others' were projected to lead the pack garnering 66.1% of the votes. The UPA was projected to follow with 30.6% of the votes, while the NDA was projected to trail with a mere 3.3% of the votes. 

Others: 66.1%
UPA: 30.6%
NDA: 3.3%

Jan Ki Baat:

Seat share:

In terms of seats, the NDA ally NPP was projected to win no seats, while the UPA was projected to win 2 seats.
UPA: 2 seats
NDA (NPP): 0 seats

Poll campaign and issues:

The crackdown on illegal coal mining with the National Green Tribune (NGT) banning the activity had been the major issue in the state.

Days after the opposition Congress released a video blaming the ruling National People’s Party’s (NPP) “failure” to resolve the issue, chief minister Conrad K. Sangma had alleged that Mukul Sangma-led Congress government failed to challenge the NGT’s ban, impacting livelihood and causing financial loss to the state.

While NPP has campaigned to counter the NGT's ban requesting the Centre to allow the coal mining with proper safety measures, as a large number of people are dependent on the business, the Congress has been campaigning against the illegal mining activities which had led to miners to be trapped in the 300-feet deep flooded coal mine in East Jaintia Hills district in December 2018.

Key battles in Meghalaya: 

Shillong: The battle centers around the key issue of Mining as many mishaps regarding mining have occurred in the state. BJP's Sanbor Shullai will face Congress' Vincent H Pala and UDP's Jemino Mawthoh.

Tura: Here the ruling NPP MP Agatha Sangma faces Congress' Mukul Sangma and BJP's Rikman G Momin. Same issues of mining plague this constituency as current CM Conrad Sangma has repeatedly targetted his rival Mukul Sangma for being sluggish in banning mining in the state.  

Historical trend:

In the 2014 General elections, Meghalaya had a voter turnout of 68.8% in all phases, in which the NDA ally -NPP which is a part of the North East Regional Political Front (NPEP) won 1 seat, while the UPA won 1 seat.  

The last two Assembly elections (60 seats) are seen to follow an increasing trend for the NPP as it increased its win from 2 to 19 seats during 2018 under the leadership of the Conrad Sangma-led NPP. In a jolt to Congress, the Meghalaya governor had called NPP to form the government as both UPA and NDA had 21 seats each. While the voter turnout remained constant at 87.7%, the Congress diminished its foothold as its seat share fell from 29 seats to 21 seats in 2018 as the saffron party formed an alliance with NPEP to form the government.

In 2019, Meghalaya has witnessed an average voter turnout of 71.32% in its single poll phase. 

Recent political developments:

In January, the state was under major fire when the National Green Tribunal imposed a fine of whopping Rs 100 crore on the Meghalaya government for failing to curb illegal coal mining in the state after the incident where at least 15 miners were trapped in the 370 foot-deep illegal coal mine in Lumthari village of East Jaintia Hills district of Meghalaya since December 13 and all efforts to pump the water out of flooded mine have been in vain.

On a national scale:

The 2019 elections saw high-octane electric campaigning from both sides as the BJP went hammer and tongs, expressing confidence at each turn that it would not only repeat but also better its tally of 282 votes from five years earlier, whereas the Congress and other Opposition parties,  also campaigned heavily though without being able to make any convincing show of unity. While Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeking a second term in the Parliament, addressed a total of 144 rallies and roadshows this election season, Congress president Rahul Gandhi addressed 125 rallies in the 2019 polls.

A number of Republic Media Network newsbreaks especially set the agenda for the polls, including the first interview of the Prime Minister's election campaign to Republic's Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami and his final campaign interview to Executive Editor Abhishek Kapoor. Alongside these were the sensational #MPsOnSale sting on sitting MPs who showed themselves willing to compromise the interests of those whom they claim to represent, the Operation Karz Maafi sting that exposed the falsehood in the Congress' farm loan-waiver promise, and numerous others.