Newly elected United Democratic Party (UDP) MLA from Shella constituency, Balajied Kupar Synrem took oath as a member of the 10th Meghalaya Legislative Assembly.
Speaker Metbah Lyngdoh administered the oath of office in presence of Chief Minister Conrad Sangma, other MLAs and his family members on Friday.
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Two Congress MLAs- Ampareen Lyngdoh and George B Lyngdoh- also attended the oath-taking ceremony.
ALSO READ: UDP’s Balajied wins Shella bypoll
Balajied is the son of former CM Donkupar Roy who had represented Shella Assembly seat since 1988 till his death on July 28.
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With Balajied’s election, the Assembly now has its complete numbers of 60 members.
With this win, the UDP also has increased its strength to seven from six members in the 60-member Assembly.
ALSO READ: Donkupar Roy’s sudden demise sends UDP scrambling in Meghalaya
Synrem won the bye-election to Shella constituency held on October 21, and votes were counted at Sohra on Thursday.
Donkupar was also the President of the UDP and former Speaker of the 10th Assembly.
The Shella seat was held by Donkupar Roy for 31 years, since 1988.
Late Donkupar Roy’s cumulative winning margin over the last seven terms in the Assembly polls from 1988 to 2018 was only 3,857.
Whereas his son current margin just in one election is 6221 votes, more than the cumulative winning margin of his father.
Roy had never won with a huge margin, as the winning margin was very small.
Synrem polled a total of 12,002 votes, and he defeated Independent nominee, Grace Mary Kharpuri by a margin of 6,221 votes.
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Kharpuri fought as an independent candidate and came second as she polled 5,781 votes.
People’s Democratic Front (PDF) Mosjo Wanswet came third with 4,327 votes.
Congress candidate, Batyngshaiñ Ryngnga came fourth and polled only 1,715 votes.
BJP candidate, Joshua Warjri came fifth and polled 742 votes.
Another Independent candidate, Komen Laitmon came last and polled 444 votes.
There were 188 voters who pressed the NOTA.