The party that had governed since the founding election lost its majority; a national party became the largest force instead.

The Indian National Congress won 20 of the seats.

That was well short of the 31-seat majority mark — a hung house, with no single party holding enough seats to govern alone.

The alliance that had won the state's first election suffered a sharp collapse.

The All Party Hill Leaders Conference's vote share — the slice of all ballots cast that went to one party or candidate — slid -10.7 pp from the previous election.

A new, previously unelected party also broke through, part of a field that grew to 4 parties holding seats.

A few numbers from this election are worth a look on their own.

The tightest race was Nongshken, Meghalaya, decided by a margin — how far ahead the winner finished, in votes, over whoever came second — of just 11 votes.

The most one-sided contest was Pariong, Meghalaya, won by 54.0% of the vote.

Turnout — the share of registered voters who actually cast a ballot — peaked in Mahendraganj, Meghalaya, at 82.7%.

The biggest electorate of the night was in Nongstoin, Meghalaya, where 16,629 people were registered to vote.

With no party near a majority, coalition-building was already the norm for this assembly.