A regional alliance representing the hill districts came away with working control of the new assembly.

The All Party Hill Leaders Conference won 32 of the seats on offer.

That was just 1 seat more than it needed for a majority.

This was the very first election the state ever held, immediately after it was carved out on its own.

Meghalaya elected all 60 of its assembly seats that day.

Only 3 parties won any seats at all; independents, running without a party ticket, took 19 of the rest.

A few numbers from that first election stand out.

The tightest finish was in Nongkhlaw, Meghalaya, decided by a margin — how far ahead the winner finished, in votes, over whoever came second — of just 30 votes.

At the other extreme, Dambuk Aga, Meghalaya was the most one-sided result of the night, won by 75.6% of the vote.

Turnout — the share of registered voters who actually cast a ballot — was highest in Mynsoraliang, Meghalaya, at 74.1%.

Independents, running individually rather than as one party, actually out-polled the AHL in vote share — the slice of all ballots cast that went to one party or candidate — 53.9% to 35.7%, despite winning far fewer seats.

The election followed a wider reorganisation of India's northeast, when several hill districts were separated out to form this new state.