Meghalaya CM says reduced victory margin at Ampati a cause of

Unfazed by defeat of his party in the hands of Congress in bypoll for Ampati seat, Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma today said it was rather a matter of concern for the Opposition as their winning margin has come down from 9000 votes to just a little over 3000 this time.

Congress candidate Miani D Shira won the bye-election from Ampati Assembly seat vacated by her father Mukul Sangma early this year.

She defeated National Peoples Party (NPP) candidate Clement G Momin by 3191 votes.

"The fact that the winning margin went down from 9,000 to a margin of 3000 is something which is concerning the Congress party. They would also looking back and say how come the margin have been drop so much," Conrad told mediapersons here.

Conrad is heading a coalition government with BJP and some regional parties in Meghalaya after February poll.

He said Congress has been holding this seat for the past 6 terms.

"I am happy that we have been able to considerably reduce the margin that they had and I think it is a big gain for us. It was an election started with an advantage as it is in Williamnagar also but we manage to win Williamnagar but here we also gained 5000 votes in Ampati from 8000 we have touched 12,000 votes," he said.

The Chief Minister admitted that it was an uphill task to defeat the Congress and said, "We worked hard and tried to explain to the people that change is already taken place in the state and Ampati needs to follow."
Refuting Congress' claim that the MDA government will last for a few months, Conrad said, "At this point in time, obviously the Congress has to give some kind of a hope to their people that they will come back."
Spelling out his governmen's priority, he said, "We are focused on road infrastructure, we had meeting with NHIDCL and MoRTH in delhi. Therefore our commitment of ensuring road infrastructure is there."