Meghalaya CM Conrad Sangma's big hint after exit polls predict hung assembly

Meghalaya chief minister Conrad Sangma is likely to stitch a post-poll alliance with his old partner Bharatiya Janata Party after exit polls by various channels predicted a hung house in the northeastern state with Sangma's National People's Party (NPP) being the single-largest party.

In Tura, Sangma said the party will keep all its options open to form a stable government. “We are happy to see the trend is in line as we expected to get more seats than we received last time,” Sangma told news agency ANI.

“When it comes to forming a stable government as and when the situation arrives we will move forward considering the best interest of the state,” Sangma added.

Speaking to NDTV, Sangma said if a party can give voice to the northeast at the national level, the NPP is working towards it.

“If we get a fraction of the mandate, then we have to talk to parties to form the government... If a party can give voice to the northeast at the national level, we are working towards it,” Sangma said.

Both the Times Now ETG Exit and India Today-My Axis polls predicted a hung house in the state described as ‘Scotland of the east’.

The Times Now ETG Exit poll predicted Sangma's NPP would get 18-26 seats, Trinamool Congress led by former chief minister Mukul Sangma would take 8-14 seats, the UDP another 8-14 seats, while the BJP would improve its tally from two to anything between 3-6 seats.

India Today-My Axis predicted that NPP would bag 18-24 seats, short of the majority, forcing it to look towards other parties to shore up figures. It also gave UDP 8-12 seats, Congress 6-12 seats, TMC 5-9 seats and the BJP 4-8 seats.

The Zee News-Matrize exit poll predicted that the National People's Party will retain Meghalaya with 21 to 26 seats. Also, it predicted 8-13 seats for the Trinamool and 6-11 for the BJP.