Purno Agitok Sangma

A Professor, an Advocate, Journalist turned Politician belongs to National Peoples Party from Tura (ST) (Meghalaya) Constituency. He served as the Speaker of the Lok Sabha from 1996 to 1998 and Chief Minister of Meghalaya from 1988 to 1990.In 1973, Sangma became Vice-President of the Pradesh Youth Congress in Meghalaya and became the General Secretary of the party in 1975. He served in that position from 1975 to 1980. In 1977, he was elected to the 6th Lok Sabha from Tura in Meghalaya and was re-elected from the same constituency multiple times. He represented the Tura constituency in multiple Lok Sabha sessions - from the sixth Lok Sabha session to the eight Lok Sabha session. He did not contest re-election at the time of the formation of the 9th Lok Sabha but did regain his seat in 1991 at the commencement of the 10th Lok Sabha. He remained a member of the Lok Sabha till 2008. He became Speaker of Lok Sabha in 1996.He was the Chief Minister of Meghalaya from 1988 to 1990

He was one of the founders of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) along with Sharad Pawar and Tariq Anwar in 1999. In January 2004, P.A. Sangma created a split in the NCP after Sharad Pawar became close to the NCP's former rival, Sonia Gandhi. On 5 January 2013, Sangma launched the National People's Party on the national level.

On 22 July 2012, Pranab Mukherjee was declared the victor over P. A. Sangma, crossing the half-way mark of 525,140 votes after votes in half the states had been tallied. The Returning Officer for the Election, and the Secretary General of the Rajya Sabha, Vivek Agnihotri, then declared Mukherjee to be elected as President of India. Sangma subsequently accused the President-elect of graft.

Sangma died from cardiac arrest early morning in New Delhi at the age of 68, on 4th March 2016.