BJP-allies may romp home in Nagaland, Meghalaya, Tripura

The BJP is set to register a commanding performance in the Tripura, Meghalaya, and Nagaland Assembly elections, the result for which will be declared on April 3. Tripura went to polls on February 18 whereas elections for Meghalaya and Nagaland Assemblies took place on Tuesday.

Exit polls suggested that the BJP might bring down the 25-year-old Left regime in Tripura and also form Governments in Meghalaya and Nagaland. According to NewsX exit polls, the BJP may form its maiden Government in Tripura with the help of ally IPFT. The exit polls said that the BJP-IPFT combine will get anywhere between 35-45 seats in the 60-member Assembly. The CPI(M) may be reduced to 14-23 seats from its current tally of 50. Axis MyIndia also predicted a BJP win in Tripura giving it, 45-50 seats along with IPFT. But C-voter predicted BJP and CPI(M) winning 24-32 seats each and Congress gaining just 2.

The exit polls presented an unclear picture about the Meghalaya outcome. C-voter predicted the BJP to win 4 to 8 seats, NPP 17 to 23 and Congress 13 to 19. Regional outfits UDP and HSPDP could together win about 8 to12 seats.

On the other hand, Axis MyIndia and News24 gave BJP 30 seats, Congress 20, PDF 3, NCP 2 and others 4. NewsX exit polls, gave Congress 13-17 seats and BJP 8-12 whereas NPP is set to win 23-27 seats.

According to C-voter, BJP + NPP could win 25-31 seats in the 60-member Nagaland Assembly where as NPF could bag 19 to 25 seats and Congress 4. News X exit polls for Nagaland said that the BJP and its ally NDPP could get 27-32 seats whereas NPF could win 20-25 seats. The Congress could just about open its account in the 60-member Assembly.

Meanwhile, the Election Commission (EC) on Tuesday announced that 75 per cent polling was recorded in Nagaland and 67 per cent in Meghalaya in the Assembly polls held on Tuesday. In last Assembly elections, 90.57 per cent polling was recorded in Nagaland and 89 per cent in Meghalaya.

The final polling per cent is expected to increase in both States as many people were still in queues till the last reports came. Counting for both States along with Tripura will be held on March 3.

Briefing the media, OSD in the Election Commissioner Chandra Bhushan Kumar said that voting process was completely peaceful in Meghalaya without any incident of violence.