Sayeedullah Nongrum

Sayeedullah Nongrum is an Indian politician and philanthropist. He was a three-time MLA for the Rajabala constituency in the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly.

Nongrum helped found several educational institutions including Qazi & Jaman College in Bhaitbari (1990), Jinjiram College in Rajabala (2000) and was the founding vice-president of the governing body of Umshyrpi College in Shillong.

Political career Nongrum entered electoral politics in the 1993 Meghalaya Legislative Assembly election, winning the Rajabala seat as an independent candidate.

He was defeated in the 1998 Meghalaya Legislative Assembly election by Indian National Congress candidate Kapin Ch. Boro. He returned to the Assembly in the 2003 Meghalaya Legislative Assembly election, defeating Clement Marak of the Nationalist Congress Party, and retained the seat in the 2008 Meghalaya Legislative Assembly election as a Congress candidate.

He was defeated in the 2013 Meghalaya Legislative Assembly election.

At the 2018 Meghalaya Legislative Assembly election, Nongrum contested from the Tikrikilla constituency as an independent candidate but was unsuccessful. A by-election was held in April 2019 for the Selsella constituency, in which Nongrum contested as a United Democratic Party candidate but did not win the election.

He has also held administrative positions, including Chairman of the Meghalaya Industrial Development Corporation and Chairman of the Meghalaya Land Revenue Review Committee and has also acted as co-ordinator of the Assam–Meghalaya Boundary Settlement Committee. In May 2009, he was appointed Political Secretary to the Chief Minister of Meghalaya with Cabinet rank.

Community leadership and interfaith work Since 1982, Nongrum has served as General Secretary of the Shillong Muslim Union (SMU). Nongrum is also a founder member of the Shillong All Faith Forum, which promotes communal harmony and cooperation among religious communities.

Personal life Nongrum is married to Fatima Beum Dkhar (formerly Florabell Dkhar) and they have two sons and two daughters. He is also a polyglot; fluent in Khasi, English, Bengali, Urdu, Hindi, Persian, Tamil, Nepali and Assamese.