Agatha with her father P.A. Sangma in Tura on Thursday. A file picture

Shillong, May 25: A 27-year-old Agatha Sangma today entered the Lok Sabha in a blaze of glory, bringing up in her wake a trail of records which will be hard enough for others to beat.

Consider these: she has become the first woman MP from the state, she will be the youngest MP in Parliament and her victory margin is the biggest by any woman politician in the state. The last and the ultimate — the Sangmas, perhaps, can now claim to be the only family in the country with four members in active politics and “power”.

Earlier this year, P.A. Sangma and his two sons — Conrad and James — were elected to the Assembly.

“I think we have created history of sorts as we have not heard about as many as four members of a family in politics,” Conrad, the state’s finance minister, told The Telegraph over phone from Tura. Except his mother Sarojini and elder sister Christy — who is in London — all other members of the family are into politics.

Agatha defeated her nearest rival and Congress candidate Zenith Sangma — brother of senior Congress leader Mukul Sangma — by a margin of 99,856 votes. The two other Independent candidates, Boston Marak and John Leslee K. Sangma, secured 28,607 and 17,819 votes respectively.

Election officials recalled “from memory” that Agatha’s victory margin was the biggest among all women politicians but added that they “will have to check records for a confirmation”. That will be checked tomorrow, as today was a holiday.

The Tura seat fell vacant following the resignation of P.A. Sangma after he was elected to the Meghalaya Assembly on March 7.

Playing down accusations by opponents of “dynasty politics”, a jubilant Agatha said she won the seat on merit.

“I was elected on merit and the verdict shows that the people did not listen to the opponents, who wanted to take political mileage out of this dynasty politics issue,” she said.

Family members, too, are solidly behind her, saying Agatha has a “natural talent” and had done her groundwork to win the elections. Her simplicity was an added charisma, they added.

The former Lok Sabha Speaker played down the question of dynasty politics. “My attempt was to give equal opportunities to my children,” he said, adding, “and the people’s verdict shows that these accusations do not hold any water”.

The biggest compliment to the Sangmas, however, came from arch rival Congress. A senior legislator and Congress spokesman, R. C. Laloo, said, “every father in the state can learn from P.A. Sangma, who wanted his children to excel in life.

“The selection of Agatha as the candidate and her victory has nothing to do with dynastic politics. Every father wants to see that his sons and daughters do well in life. They have reciprocated in equally enthusiastic manner,” he added.

The hard work done, now the harder work awaits her. Agatha said her priority would be to improve the infrastructure in Garo Hills, especially road connectivity and rural electrification.

After doing LLB from Pune University, Agatha had joined Delhi High Court as a lawyer. She did her MA from Nottingham University, UK, on environmental management. She was also associated with a New Delhi-based legal firm, Foxmandal Little.

After a tour of the Garo Hills, which she plans to do very soon, Agatha said she would raise youth and women related issues in the forthcoming Parliament sessions. Being the youngest in Parliament should help her drawing the desired attention.

Before her, Dharmendra Yadav — the nephew of Mulayam Singh Yadav — had created the record of being the youngest MP ever to enter Lok Sabha at the age of 25 on December 24, 2004. Dharmendra had won from Mainpuri on a Samajwadi Party ticket.