Friday, February 17 2006 14:02 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Shillong: Over 68 per cent of an estimated 5.26 lakh voters had cast their ballots yesterday (Feb 16 2006) for Meghalaya's tura parliamentary constituency by-election which ended on a peaceful note.

According to the Returning Officer, P Sampath Kumar, the exact percentage of voting for the bypoll calculated at 68.38 per cent after all the polling personnel returned from altogether 588 booths amid tight security.

In 2004 Lok Sabha election, the polling percentage in the same constituency was 62.4 per cent, he said. Incidentally, both Purno A Sangma and Mukul Sangma had contested the poll from the same seat that time also.

In yesterday's bypoll four candidates including the former Lok Sabha Speaker was fighting for the ninth time as an NCP candidate against Congress nominee Mukul Sangma, also the former Deputy Chief Minister of the state. The two other Independents were in the fray.

The Tura seat fell vacant after Purno Sangma, who held it for the eighth time in a row, quit the post to protest the twin police firing on student protestors over the Meghalaya Board of School Education (MBOSE) revamping issue in Garo Hills on September 30 that left nine dead and injured over 100.

The counting of votes would take place on February 19.