Meghalaya Home Minister and Congress leader Horju Donkupar Roy Lyngdoh on Saturday lost to the Hill State People’s Democratic Party’s Samlin Malngiang by 622 votes.
The Congress has been in the lead since counting began on Saturday morning, but has faced losses in some parts of the state. Lyngdoh won 11,338 votes, against Malngiang’s 11,960 votes.
Lyngdoh, a prominent Congress candidate, was seeking a second term from the Sohiong constituency. Ahead of the elections, he was listed among the state’s richer candidates, with declared assets worth close to Rs 5 crore, The Shillong Times reported. In Meghalaya, 35 out of 60 candidates from the Congress hold assets worth over Rs 1 crore, according to a report by the Association for Democratic Reforms.
In early 2017, Lyngdoh was in the news after independent MLA Julius Kitbok allegedly raped a 14-year old girl in a guest house owned by Lyngdoh’s son. This led to widespread protests in the state by civil society organisations who wanted Lyngdoh to resign. Lyngdoh, however, refused.
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