Indian National Congress remained Meghalaya's largest party once again.

About 89.4% of registered voters turned out to cast a ballot — the highest share on record for the state.

It won 25 of the 60 seats on offer.

That fell short of the 31-seat majority mark.

Its nearest rival, Nationalist Congress Party, took 15 seats on 20.8% of the vote.

INC itself polled 32.9% of the vote, translating to 41.7% of the seats.

The Election Commission of India announced elections to the 8th Meghalaya Legislative Assembly on 14 January 2008, setting most of the state's 60 seats for a single-phase poll with counting due on 7 March.¹

Nationalist Congress Party leader Sangma resigned his Lok Sabha seat in March 2008 to contest the assembly election, shifting from national to state politics. Under his leadership, the party was seen as the strongest challenge to the incumbent Congress.²

Polling in Baghmara, originally set with the rest of the state, was postponed by the Commission to 22 March after the sitting INC MLA died, while counting for the other 59 seats went ahead as planned.³

INC kept its place at the top, and a long-standing regional party won seats of its own for the first time.

The Hill State People's Democratic Party formed as a split from the All Party Hill Leaders Conference, initially campaigning for a separate hill state, and had contested every Meghalaya assembly election since the first one.⁴

INC itself grew from 22 to 25 seats.

That extended its own run at the top to 7 elections in a row.

The single biggest movement ran from United Democratic Party to INC, covering 6 of the 38 seats that changed hands.

Turnout rose +19.0 pp from the previous election.

The closest race was Dienglieng, Meghalaya, decided by a margin — how far ahead the winner finished, in votes, over whoever came second — of 66 votes.

Jaiaw, Meghalaya was the most one-sided contest, won by 53.2% of the vote.

Raliang, Meghalaya recorded the highest turnout of any seat that year, 95.9%.

Tura, Meghalaya was the largest constituency by registered voters, with 39,698 names on the rolls.

The most crowded contest was Rongram, Meghalaya, where 11 candidates stood.

Baghmara's own poll was postponed to 22 March after the death of its sitting MLA, while counting for the other 59 seats went ahead on 7 March.³

Meghalaya became a separate state on 21 January 1972, carved from Assam's Khasi, Jaintia and Garo Hills districts, and its first Legislative Assembly election followed weeks later, electing all 60 members with the All Party Hill Leaders Conference winning an outright majority.⁵

Coalition-building among the state's several regional parties has remained central to governing ever since, whatever the turnout.