Just short of a majority
What happened
Congress won more seats than any other party once again, but a majority remained just out of reach.
The Indian National Congress won 29 of the 60 seats.
That was just short of the 31-seat majority mark.
The Independent candidates followed with 13 seats.
What changed
This was also the year a brand-new party first appeared on Meghalaya's political map, winning seats in its very first election.
P. A. Sangma founded the National People's Party on 6 January 2013, after leaving the Nationalist Congress Party, headquartered in Shillong. The party grew from a minor Meghalaya player into the lead partner of the state's governing coalition from 2018, and became the single largest party in the 2023 assembly election.
That party was NPP.
Congress, meanwhile, extended its own run at the top to 8 elections in a row.
Independent candidates also won 13 seats between them.
Notable numbers
A few numbers from that election stand out.
The tightest finish was in Mendipathar, Meghalaya, decided by a margin — how far ahead the winner finished, in votes, over whoever came second — of just 11 votes.
At the other extreme, Ampati, Meghalaya was the most lopsided contest, with the winner ahead by 41.6% of the vote.
Turnout — the share of registered voters who actually cast a ballot — peaked in Khliehriat, Meghalaya, at 94.4%.
Mawlai, Meghalaya had the largest electorate of any seat that year, with 34,199 names on the rolls.
The backdrop
The rise of new, non-traditional parties has been a recurring feature of Meghalaya's elections, alongside a large pool of independent candidates.