Meghalaya Chief Minister was hoping to be early bird, but other voters beat him

Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Friday stood in a queue at a polling station in Tura to cast his vote in the first phase of the Lok Sabha polls.

However, he was pleasantly surprised when he saw that people had already lined up early to exercise their franchise.

At 6:30 am, Sangma, who is the president of the state’s ruling National People’s Party (NPP), reached the Walbakgre polling station in Tura and stood in a queue. He himself drove to the polling station.

“I reached the booth at 6.30 am hoping to vote first. But I was pleasantly surprised that there were many people before me. It is a healthy trend. Voting is a right of every citizen,” he told reporters.

He appealed to people to vote in large numbers and exercise their democratic rights.

Polling is underway in Meghalaya’s two Lok Sabha seats – Tura and Shillong.

Meghalaya’s two Lok Sabha constituencies are among the 102 seats where voting in the first phase of the Lok Sabha elections are on. Polling began at 7 am and is slated to end at 4 pm.