Shillong, May 13: While the contest for the Sohiong Assembly seat may have been won by the United Democratic Party (UDP), there was another winner which did far better than atleast 3 major parties.

That winner, rather option, is the NOTA (None of the Above). NOTA received 272 votes of the total 32,161 votes polled in the Sohiong election.

Interestingly, three major parties of the state – Hill State People’s Democratic Party (HSPDP), Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) – received lesser votes compared to NOTA!

In fact, none of them even reached the figure of 100.

HSPDP polled 62 votes, BJP polled just 40 votes and the All India Trinamool Congress polled 89 votes.

On the other hand, UDP candidate Synshar Kupar Roy Lyngdoh Thabah received 16,679 votes of the total 32,161 votes polled. He won the election by a margin of 3422 votes against his closest rival and NPP candidate, also the sitting legislator, Samlin Malngiang, who secured 13,257 votes.

Synshar Kupar polled a staggering 51.86 percent of the total votes cast.

At distant third position was Congress candidate S. Osborne Kharjana with 1762 votes.