Conrad Kongkal Sangma is an Indian politician who is the 12th and current Chief Minister of the State of Meghalaya. He assumed the presidency of the National People's Party in 2016 after the death of his father and former Chief Minister Purno Sangma. He was also a Member of Parliament from Tura(2016-2018). Conrad is a former leader of the opposition in the eighth Meghalaya Legislative Assembly, representing the NPP from Selsella constituency in the West Garo Hills. Previously in 2008, Sangma became the youngest Finance Minister of Meghalaya. Upon completing his studies, Sangma started his political career in the late 1990s, as the campaign manager for his father, P. A. Sangma for Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). He contested his first election in 2004 losing by 182 votes. He was first elected to the State Assembly along with his brother James, both as NCP members in the 2008 state elections and later held several important portfolios in the state cabinet, including the Finance, Power, Tourism, GAD and IT and presented his first annual budget for Meghalaya within 10 days of debuting as a minister. From 2009 to 2013 Sangma held the post of Leader of Opposition in the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly. In March 2016 he was elected national president of the National People's Party (NPP) following his father's death earlier that year. Sangma's party, the NPP, came second behind Indian National Congress winning 19 seats at the 2018 Meghalaya legislative assembly election. Requiring 30 seats to form a government in the State, the NPP allied with other regional parties taking the number to 34. Subsequently, Sangma staked claim to form government upon meeting the Governor of Meghalaya Ganga Prasad with a letter of support from the 34 members of the legislative assembly, and was declared the Chief Minister-elect. He was sworn in on 6 March. In August 2018, he contested the by-election for the South Tura seat and polled 13,656 votes. Sangma defeated his nearest Congress rival Charlotte W Momin by a margin of over 8,400 votes.