Shillong, Mar 3: The results of Meghalaya assembly elections 2018 are scheduled to be declared today. While counting of votes are still underway, the Congress has emerged as the single largest party, leading on 20 seats (by the time this report was last updated). The NPP of Conrad Sangma was leading at 14 seats, whereas, the BJP emerged ahead on 7.

The Meghalaya Assembly elections of 2018 were held on February 27 alongside the northeastern state of Nagaland. Earlier this week, Meghalaya voted to elect 59 of 60 members to the Legislative Assembly. State Chief Electoral Officer F R Kharkongor said that an estimated 84.86 percent polling was recorded in Meghalaya. He said that 15,35,846 voters out of the total 18.09 lakh electorate exercised their franchise in 59 constituencies.

Mookaiaw constituency recorded the highest turnout with 93.21 percent voter turnout. North Shillong witnessed the least polling with 60.79 per voter turnout. While Meghalaya recorded a voter turnout of 86.82 percent in the 2013 assembly elections. In each polling station of Meghalaya, 'early voter medals' were given to the first five voters to encourage more voter participation. In the state, a total of 55 constituencies are reserved for Scheduled Tribes and the remaining are for the general candidates.

Meghalaya has a 60-member legislative assembly, of which 59 seats went to polls on Tuesday. The polling in Williamnagar was adjourned following the death of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) candidate Jonathone N Sangma who died in a militant attack last week. While polling was held in Meghalaya and Nagaland on February 27, Tripura voted on February 17.

Watch live Meghalaya Assembly Election Results here:

The assembly election 2018 holds tremendous importance for both national as well as regional politics. While BJP is looking to spread their wings in Meghalaya along with Nagaland and Tripura, the ruling Congress is trying to strengthen their weakening hold in the region. Regional parties too play a key role in Meghalaya. Watch this space for live streaming and live updates on Meghalaya, Tripura and Nagaland Assembly Election Results 2018.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 03, 2018 10:25 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).