The Meghalaya Legislative Assembly election of 2008 took place in a single phase on 3 March 2008 to elect the Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) from each of the 60 Assembly Constituencies (ACs) in Meghalaya, India. Counting of votes happened on 7 March 2008 and because of the use of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in this election, the results were ready within the day. The ruling coalition Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) had broken apart in the lead-up to this election, forcing the main partner

Indian National Congress (INC) The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...

to take on their erstwhile partners including United Democratic Party (UDP) and Meghalaya Democratic Party (MDP) who had decided to fight against the INC on the basis on corruption charges against the incumbent Government. The election provided a hung verdict and both the incumbent INC and the post-election coalition of NCP- UDP (who called themselves the Meghalaya Progressive Alliance (MPA) staked claim with the Governor of Meghalaya M.M. Jacob to form the next

Government of Meghalaya The Government of Meghalaya, also known as the State Government of Meghalaya, is the supreme governing authority of the Indian state of Meghalaya and its 12 districts. It consists of an executive, led by the Governor of Meghalaya, a judiciary ...

. By virtue of being the single largest party in this election, winning 25 of the total 60 seats, the incumbent

Chief Minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union ter ...

D. D. Lapang of the INC was invited by the

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

to form the new Government on 10 March 2008. However, the Lapang Government was unable to get enough support in the

Meghalaya Legislative Assembly The Meghalaya Legislative Assembly is the unicameral legislature of the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Meghalaya. Constituted as a directly elected body in 1972, it has 60 members, filled through direct elections held e ...

and the Chief Minister resigned 9 days later ahead of the

vote of confidence A motion or vote of no confidence (or the inverse, a motion or vote of confidence) is a motion and corresponding vote thereon in a deliberative assembly (usually a legislative body) as to whether an officer (typically an executive) is deemed fit ...

scheduled for 20 March 2008. The Governor then invited the head of the UDP

Donkupar Roy Donkupar Roy (10 November 1954 – 28 July 2019) was an Indian politician, who served as Chief Minister of Meghalaya. He was the head of the United Democratic Party, a political party recognised in Meghalaya. Political career After a fractu ...

to form the Government with the support of the

MPA MPA or mPa may refer to: Academia Academic degrees * Master of Performing Arts * Master of Professional Accountancy * Master of Public Administration * Master of Public Affairs Schools * Mesa Preparatory Academy * Morgan Park Academy * M ...

coalition who claimed support of 31 of the 60 seats in the Assembly. This included 14 seats from NCP, 11 from UDP, 2 from Hill State People's Democratic Party(HPDP), 1 from

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; , ) is a political party in India and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's Bharatiya Jana Sangh. Since 2014, ...

, 1 from Khun Hynniewtrep National Awakening Movement (KHNAM) and 2 independents

Background

The previous elections to the 7th

was held in 2003 and the term for this Assembly was set to expire on 10 March 2008. Hence, the Election Commission of India (ECI) announced fresh elections to the 8th Meghalaya Legislative Assembly on 14 January 2008. Of the 60 ACs in Tripura, 55 are reserved for Scheduled Tribes. Elections in all

polling station A polling place is where voters cast their ballots in elections. The phrase polling station is also used in American English, British English and Canadian English although a polling place is the building and polling station is the specific ...

s were held using EVMs. After the 2003 elections to the 7th Meghalaya Legislative Assembly, the INC led

MDA MDA, mda or variants may refer to: Businesses and organizations Political parties * Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (2003–2008), in India * Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (2018–present), in India * Movement for Democracy in Africa, in Burkina F ...

formed the Government under the leadership of INC's D. D. Lapang. The members of the MDA were INC (22 seats), UDP (9 seats), Meghalaya Democratic Party (MDP) (4 seats) and 3 independents. By 2006, Lapang faced revolt within the INC and the party took the decision to replace him as the Chief Minister. On 15 June 2006, Lapang resigned and his protégé J. D. Rymbai was sworn in as the new Chief Minister by the

Governor of Manipur A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the type of political region or polity, a ''governor'' ma ...

S. S. Sidhu, who administered the oath of office on behalf of Governor M. M. Jacob who was on leave. However, the conflict within the INC did not end there and both Lapang and Rymbai continued to claim majority support among the Congress Legislative Party (CLP). After 8 months in control of the Government, Rymbai was asked by the

Congress high command The Congress Working Committee (CWC) is the executive committee of the Indian National Congress. It was formed in December 1920 at Nagpur session of INC which was headed by C. Vijayaraghavachariar. It is composed of senior party leaders and is r ...

to resign. Lapang was reelected as the leader of the Meghalaya CLP and was reinstated as Chief Minister by Governor M. M. Jacob on 10 March 2007. This time Lapang held onto the post until the completion of the term of the 7th Meghalaya Assembly.

Parties contested

Campaign

In this election the INC was battling not just the

, but also its former

partners UDP and MDP. In addition, the NCP, a United Progressive Alliance (UPA) partner at the

Centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

, was also contesting against the INC in Meghalaya. Under the leadership of P. A. Sangma (who gave up national politics in favour of state politics before the elections), the NCP was expected to provide the most stiff competition to the INC. Elections in the constituency of Baghmara were postponed to 22 March 2008 on count of the death of the sitting INC MLA S. Sangma. A total of 331 candidates contested the remaining 59 seats up for election. Romgram had the toughest fight with 11 contestants, while Jaiaw had only 2 contestants.

Election Day

Election Day (3 March 2008) was largely peaceful across the state. However, there was one incident of violence that claimed the life of an INC worker when clashes broke out between supporters of INC & NCP at Selsella in the

Garo Hills The Garo Hills (IPA: ˈgɑ:ro:) are part of the Garo-Khasi range in the Meghalaya state of India. They are inhabited by the Garo people. It is one of the wettest places in the world. The range is part of the Meghalaya subtropical forests ecor ...

area of the state.

Voter turnout In political science, voter turnout is the participation rate (often defined as those who cast a ballot) of a given election. This is typically either the percentage of Voter registration, registered voters, Suffrage, eligible voters, or all Voti ...

of 89.05% was a record for the state. High voter turnout was reported from almost all rural constituencies. Voter turnout for the Baghmara seat on 22 Mar 2008 was 88.50%. Combined voter turnout across the state was 89.44%.

Results

Note: The above results are only for 59 seats. The results of Baghmara constituency is not included as elections in Baghmara were postponed.

Elected Members

References

External links

Election Commission of India

Government of Meghalaya

Meghalaya Legislative Assembly
{{Meghalaya elections 2008 State Assembly elections in India State Assembly elections in Meghalaya 2000s in Meghalaya