Tripura went to the polls on February 18 while elections were held in Nagaland and Meghalaya on February 27.
Consolidating its position as the most dominant force in the Northeast, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday scripted a spectacular victory in the CPI-M-held Tripura in alliance with Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT). According to latest trends, Chief Minister Manik Sarkar was ahead in Dhanpur seat while BJP state president Biplab Kumar Deb was leading in Banamlipur. Nagaland is also set to be a close finish with the BJP-backed Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) at the forefront. Meghalaya, meanwhile, seems headed for a hung House with senior leaders of both Congress and BJP rushing to state capital Shillong for negotiations.
Counting of votes in Tripura, Meghalaya and Nagaland, where elections were held on February 18 and 27, respectively, began Saturday morning. All three states have 60 seats, however, elections were held for 59 seats. While a CPI(M) candidate died in Tripura, a Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) candidate was killed in Meghalaya. In Nagaland, former chief minister Neiphiu Rio won from one seat.
Of the three states, Tripura was the most keenly watched for being the last Left bastion in the country. Sarkar, the 69-year-old outgoing chief minister, has governed Tripura since 1998. A politburo member of CPI-M, he had been at the helm for the fourth consecutive time.
In Agartala town, cries of ‘Jai Siyaram and Bharat Mata ki Jai’ filled the air at the BJP office where national general secretary Ram Madhav declared that his party will form the next government in Tripura.
Besides tapping into the youth, the BJP made aggressive best efforts to break the CPI(M)’s stranglehold in 20 seats reserved for tribals, which possibly turned the ride in its favour. Indicating the extent of BJP’s inroads, the tribal seat of Asharambari has for the time not gone to the CPM. IPFT general secretary Mewat Jamatia has won from the seat with a massive margin of 7,000 votes.
The BJP, under Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his pointsman Amit Shah, has been aggressively expanding its footprints in the region ever since it came to power in 2014. It already has governments in Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and Assam.
BJP had contested 50 seats in the last assembly polls in 2013 and its candidates forfeited their deposits on 49 seats. However, with just 1.87 per cent of votes, it failed to win any seat in the state. The CPI-M had won 49 of the 55 seats it contested while the Congress managed to win 10 out of 48 seats it contested.
A three-tier security arrangement was made for all the counting centres, said Additional Chief Electoral Officer of Tripura, Tapas Ray.
Earlier, two exit polls had predicted that the BJP will dislodge the CPI(M) in Tripura while a third exit poll claimed a close fight. In Nagaland, two exit polls said the BJP-NDPP alliance will have an edge over the ruling Naga People’s Front. In Meghalaya, one exit poll said the Congress would emerge as the single largest party, while another said Conrad Sangma’s National People’s Party (NPP) would be ahead of the ruling Congress, with the BJP finishing third.
Exit polls for the three northeastern statesThis year, the BJP is contesting on 50 seats and has left nine seats for ally IPFTIPFT. The Congress fielded candidates for all 59 constituencies but one of its candidates withdrew his nomination and joined the BJP. The Trinamool Congress (TMC) has fielded 24 candidates. READ HERE FOR LIVE UPDATES
Meghalaya saw around 84 per cent voting and the contest in the state involves the ruling Congress, BJP, National People’s Party (NPP) and the newly floated People’s Democratic Front. Polling in Williamnagar constituency of the state was countermanded following the death of NCP candidate in an IED blast. In the last assembly elections held in the state in 2013, the BJP had to face a heart-wrenching defeat as it lost all 13 seats it contested with a vote share of just 6.2 per cent. The NPP had won only two seats out of 32 it contested.
The CVoter exit poll has predicted the ruling Congress suffering some setback with its tally coming down to 13-19 from 29 while the BJP is set to win 4-8 seats and around 16.5 per cent of vote share. It said the NPP may get 17-23 seats. According to latest trends, results for 34 constituencies in Meghalaya have been declared. Till now, Congress has won 13 seats, BJP 2 and NPP has won 7 seats.
Meghalaya Chief Minister Mukul Sangma, who has won from both Songsak and Ampati seats, said the election results were not on expected lines and that he would not reveal their plan vis-a-vis government formation in the state.
People’s Party president Conrad Sangma, however, said the party will form the next government in Meghalaya as the people were in favour of change.”We are hopeful that we will be able to form the government. People are fed up with the corrupt Congress government and looking for a change,” said Sangma, son of veteran leader late P A Sangma.
Congress president Rahul Gandhi had led the party’s charge in this election season, with focus on curbing the anti-incumbency sentiments and retaining power in Meghalaya. READ HERE FOR LIVE UPDATES
In Nagaland, the BJP contested the polls in alliance with the newly floated Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP), with the two in the fray in 20 and 40 seats, respectively. The Assembly polls witnessed a similar turnout as Meghalaya recorded nearly 75 per cent polling.
The CVoter survey predicted a victory for the BJP-NDPP with the combine likely to get 25-31 seats with 38.4 per cent vote share. It predicted that the ruling Naga People’s Front (NPF) will bag 19-25 seats with a vote share of 27.1 per cent. NPF had won 38 seats and 47.65 vote share in 2013 elections. According to the survey, the Congress tally may come down to 0-4 seats this time around.
Chief Minister T R Zeliang has won the battle against NDPP rival Iherie Ndang by over 4,000 votes from Peren constituency.
The voting in the state was held in 59 of the total 60 constituencies as three-time Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio of the NDDP has been declared elected unopposed from Northern Angami-II constituency. READ HERE FOR LIVE UPDATES
(With inputs from IANS and PTI)
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Get assembly election result LIVE updates from each constituency in Tripura, Nagaland and Meghalaya
Mohit GroverMar 3, 2018 at 6:04 pmThe COMBINED OPPOSITION should demand that elections should henceforth only be held through the Paper Ballot, just like advanced countries like America is doing it, because Americans know that the EVMs can be easily tampered with and completely abandoned EVMs from their elections since the 70s. Now look at the situation right now, in Tripura Election counting! the BJP was trailing with 25 and CPM is 28 and looked to win easily!..but suddenly the BJP starts racing forward and now has 27 which is absolutely absurd!...who is voting for a Hindutva Extremist party for BJP to get that kind of seats in North East anyway?!!..its the BJP-SLAVE Election Commission that is tampering with the EVMs and making the BJP get seats when there is no chance of BJP winning seats in Tripura. And the latest reports are saying that American Hackers are hacking into the EVMs and altering results ....There should be a HUGE HUE CRY by the opposition if the elections in Tripura are being manipulated!Reply- Mohit GroverMar 3, 2018 at 6:04 pmThe BJP-SLAVE Election Commission is once again playing its dirty tricks during the counting. The BJP was trailing in a distant 25 against the CPM's 33 and then suddenly the numbers of BJP is getting better towards the last rounds of counting. The tampering of EVMs is the only way BJP can win any election and thats how the the BJP has been winning elections since 2014..Its always observed when the BJP is trailing suddenly, the last rounds of counting the numbers of BJP start rising!..how is this possible?!..the tampering of EVMs and the collusion of the BJP-SLAVE Election Commission is the only way this is possible! The Election Commissioner should FORCED to RESIGN for compromising the SOVEREIGNITY and should be charged with SEDITION for it! The hacking of the EVMs and the total manipulation of the EVMs is the only way the BJP is winning elections in India since 2014..why would somebody vote for HINDUTVA party in the North East?!!..its just too puzzling!Reply
- Mohit GroverMar 3, 2018 at 6:03 pmNow look the BJP SLAVE EC playing its DIRTY TRICKS!..the CPM was clearly in the lead with 33 against 25 of BJP...now suddenly in last rounds of counting, the BJP is surging ahead. This is the tampering of EVMs that has been the practice of TOTAL BJP SLAVE Election Commission!..who will vote for the BJP in Tripura, when the CM the most hardworking and humble CM in the whole country. He has RS 1000 in his bank account. Where did BJP get it voter base. I this the Election Commission with BJP and the MNCs are hacking the EVMs from America...As latest reports suggest, that EVMs are being hacked from American programmers. The SOVEREIGNITY of the country is being compromised by the Election Commission There should be a thorough enquiry!..And the combined Opposition should insist on PAPER BALLOT for any elections hence forth or they should BOYCOTT the elections!Reply
- Mohit GroverMar 3, 2018 at 6:03 pm4: The idea is to first suggest through totally RIGGED EXIT POLLS that BJP is winning, then the EVMs rigging becomes that much more easier as when BJP is announced as the winner, the people who would otherwise would have been shocked are not shocked, as the EXIT polls had already ‘suggested’ so! This is the total gameplan of Modi/Shah in connivance of the SLAVE Election Commission (Tampering of EVMs) and SLAVE SOLD OUT TV NEWS MEDIA (Rigged EXIT POLLS). All the EXIT POLLSTERS from the TV NEWS MEDIA have been BOUGHT OUT by the Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance, who in return gets favors from Modi in terms of policy when Modi wins any election of any state or the entire country!Reply
- Mohit GroverMar 3, 2018 at 6:02 pm3: And then the other ‘HELPERS’ the SOLD OUT media that has been completely bought over by Mukesh Ambani, a crony of Modi, and Modi works for Mukesh Ambani. So they come out with a supposed EXIT POLL which is the typical way of letting the people know, that the party winning is BJP, so that people of the country are not shocked to see the actual result, when it comes out later. This is a way of suggesting to the people that the result is for the BJP, when they are simply obeying the orders of the Modi Govt, to show they are winning and then the EVMs can be tampered to make BJP win. This has been happening since the 2014 elections when Modi came to power!..He did not win, he won because of the tampered EVMs. So now there are various supposed ‘EXIT’ polls done by the Lapdog slave bought out TV News media, that are suggesting that BJP is winning is the second ‘Helper’.Reply
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