Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Thursday said he was confident of winning the South Tura Assembly seat. Bye-elections to the South Tura and Ranikor Assembly seats were held on Thursday. The results will be declared on August 27.

“People here are excited that their chief minister will be from South Tura,” Sangma said, according to The Shillong Times. “We are sure of winning the election,” he said.

The elections are a close race between the ruling National People’s Party and the Opposition Congress to become the single largest party. The Congress has 20 seats in the state Assembly while Conrad Sangma-led National People’s Party, which leads the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance government along with the Bharatiya Janata Party, has 19 seats.

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“There will be challenges and when these present themselves we will discuss how to move forward,” Sangma said. “But I am very confident that the people of South Tura will give me an opportunity to be their MLA,” Sangma said, according to The Telegraph.

The chief minister said his party was confident of his victory and had not planned for a successor in case of a defeat.

Among the four candidates who are in fray for the South Tura seat, independent candidate John Leslee Sangma is the only registered voter of the constituency. He said it would be disastrous for the state if Conrad Sangma continues to be the chief minister. “If anybody failed the people, it was the government and the party which was running the government that time,” he said.

The polling percentage in Ranikor and South Tura on Thursday was close to that in the Assembly elections in February, according to The Shillong Times. Ranikor recorded 88.9% polling on Thursday, compared to the 89.5% polled in February. In South Tura, the final percentage was 72.89% as against 73.59 in the last election.