He began his studies in Shillong, completing his matriculation from the city's Islamia High School in 1960.
Nongrum made a comeback at the 2003 Meghalaya Legislative Assembly election, defeating Clement Marak of the Nationalist Congress Party.
[1] At the 2018 Meghalaya Legislative Assembly election, Nongrum contested for the Tikrikilla constituency but was unsuccessful.
A by-election was held in April 2019 for the Selsella constituency and Nongrum contested as a United Democratic Party candidate but did not win the election.
He is also a polyglot; fluent in Khasi, English, Bengali, Urdu, Hindi, Persian, Tamil, Nepali and Assamese.