The Lok Sabha election 2024 was full of surprises. The family of former Lok Sabha Speaker Purno A. Sangma lost their stronghold Tura parliamentary seat in Meghalaya after 33 years. Infact the four decade old legacy of Late PA Sangma’s family was shuttered with Agatha Sangma, the daughter of Late PA Sangma failed to make a comeback.
Breaking the decades-long legacy of former chief minister P.A. Sangma, Congress candidate Saleng A. Sangma defeated the former’s daughter and two-time MP Agatha K. Sangma of the National People’s Party (NPP) by 1,55,241 votes.
The ruling NPP, despite having 18 legislators from Garo Hills, could not save P.A. Sangma’s bastion, which his family had been holding since 1977.
The legacy is broken; it seems the voters of the Tura Parliamentary constituency were united to throw out Chief Minister Conrad Sangma’s sister and former Union Minister Agatha Sangma.
Talking about the defeat, NPP National President and Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma said, “I would like to thank the people of Garo hills that yes for the last 46 years they have put faith and trust in the leadership of the party at the different levels and we have done our best to serve the people and we respective the mandate of the people and it’s our duty to introspect and find out where we have gone wrong.”
Stating that the losing elections from the family bastion is not an uncommon thing, the NPP National President said, “It’s true, we have seen this kind of trend in politics in the past also, this happens in many constituencies and many states where the state government for one party, we have seen in the MP elections that we don’t win.”
The Lok Sabha constituency had been with the family since 1977 barring two years 1989-1991.
Meanwhile, reacting to the unexpected defeat of NPP in Meghalaya, the state president of NPP Prestone Tynsong said, no seat should be regarded as a family bastion.
“When you discuss about legacy, it links with ownership. This is not a single family’s property. It belongs to the public and is not the property of any one individual,” Tynsong said.