The counting of votes for the Tripura, Meghalaya, and Nagaland assembly elections has begun. As per the exit poll, the Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies are likely to retain power in Tripura and Nagaland, while there can be a close competition between the Trinamool Congress and the BJP and National People’s Party (NPP) in Meghalaya.

Tripura is fielding candidates for the 60-member assembly, while Nagaland and Meghalaya are contesting for 59 seats. There are 60 seats in Nagaland, however, only 59 were up for election because the Bharatiya Janata Party won Akuluto without any opposition. In Meghalaya too, the total number came down from 60 to 59 as the election for one seat was adjourned due to the death of the candidate.

Tripura went through polling on February 16 whereas polling in Nagaland and Meghalaya was held on February 27.

Stay tuned for more updates

BJP’s Tinku Roy wins Chandipur seat in Tripura

BJP’s Tinku Roy won the Chandipur seat by a margin of 577 votes. He defeated Krishnendu Choudhary from the Communist Party of India (Marxist).

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BJP wins 16 seats, leading in 17 in Tripura

Manik Saha’s led BJP has won 16 seats and is currently leading in 17 seats. Deb Barma-founded Tipra Motha Party has so far won 7 seats and leading on 5 seats. Other parties such as the Communist Party of India, Congress and IPFT won 1 seat each.

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Tripura CM Manik Saha wins from Town Bardowali

Chief Minister of Tripura Manik Saha wins from Town Bardowali by defeating Congress’s candidate Asish Kumar Saha with a margin of 1257 votes. The BJP is leading in 34 seats followed by Congress+Left and Tipra Motha Party.

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NPP surges ahead with 5 wins in Meghalaya, leads in 26

The National People’s Party is likely to retain power in Meghalaya. The Conrad Sangma-led party has won 5 seats in Jowai, Nartiang, Raliang, Rangsakona and Rongara Siju. BJP is leading in 3 seats.

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Hekani Jakhalu creates history, becomes first woman to be elected to Nagaland Assembly

NDPP’s Hekani Jakhalu scripted history by becoming the first woman to be elected to the 60-member Nagaland Assembly. She defeated Azheto Zhimomi of the Lok Janshakti Party by a margin of 1,536 votes to win the Dimapur-III constituency.

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BJP-NDPP likely to retain power in Nagaland

BJP-NDPP is likely to continue to rule in Nagaland. The NDPP-BJP alliance is marching ahead to power in the northeastern state as they have won 4 seats out of 59 seats as of now.

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BJP wins in Tripura’s Mohanpur, Tipra Motha in Simra

BJP candidate Ratan Lal Nath won from Mohanpur constituency, defeating his nearest rival Tapas Dey of Tipra Motha Party by a margin of 7347 votes. Tipra Motha candidate Brishaketu Debbarma won from Simna (ST) constituency securing 22164 votes.

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BJP wins Nagaland’s Tuensang Sadar-I, comfortable lead in state

BJP’s P. Bashangmongba Chang won Tuensang Sadar-I and defeated Nationalist Congress Party’s Toyang Chang by 5644 margin votes. BJP is heading to a comfortable win in Nagaland. The saffron party is leading in 32 seats with a neck-and-neck competition between Congress+ Left and Tipra Motha with 15 and 12 seats respectively.

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NPP wins Meghalaya’s Nartiang with 2123 votes margin

NPP’s Sniawbhaland Dhar won the assembly elections from Nartiang by defeating Congress’s Emlang Laloo by a 2123 votes margin.

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BJP slightly under halfway mark, Tipra Motha gains in Tripura

BJP+ which surged in the beginning is now down to 31 seats. It’s a neck-to-neck contest in Tripura between Congress+Left and Tipra Motha Party as they are leading in 17 and 12 seats each. Tipra Motha gained back and it is expected to be the kingmaker.

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NPP leads in Meghalaya with 22 seats, TMC trails

The National People’s Party led by Conrad Sangma is leading in the 60-seat Meghalaya Assembly with 22 seats while BJP and TMC trailing at 8 each.

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BJP ahead in 27 seats followed by Congress-Left, Tipra Motha in Tripura

The BJP-IPFT alliance continues to maintain a comfortable lead in Tripura. The BJP is ahead in 27 seats out of 60 seats while the Left-Congress alliance is leading in 16 seats and Tipra Motha is leading in 11 seats.

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BJP-NDPP alliance ahead in 48 seats in Nagaland

The BJP-NDPP alliance leads in 48 seats out of 60 seat-member assembly. The former ruling party Nagaland People’s Front is ahead in 5 seats.

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NPP inches close to halfway mark in Meghalaya leads

Conrad Sangma-led National People’s Party is leading in Meghalaya with 21 seats. The Trinamool Congress and BJP are giving a tough fight. The majority mark is 31.

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Strong start for BJP-IPFT in Tripura, ahead in 40 seats

BJP is likely to retain power in Tripura. As per the latest trends, the BJP-IPFT alliance leads in 40 seats while the Congress-Left alliance and Tipra Motha Party (TMP) lead in 10 each.

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BJP-NDPP alliance leads in Nagaland

As per early trends, the BJP-NDPP alliance is ahead on 3 seats.

The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled out Chief Election Commission and ECs will be selected by a panel comprising the Prime Minister, the Chief Justice of India, and the Leader of Opposition until Parliament brings a law.

The judgment was pronounced by a 5-judge bench headed by Justice K.M. Joseph.

While pronouncing the verdict on petitions seeking reform in the process for the appointment of members of the Election Commission of India, the Apex Court, in a unanimous verdict, said elections should undoubtedly be fair and the buck stops with the ECI to ensure its purity is maintained.

Justices Joseph and Rastogi read out their separate judgements and declared that the independence of ECI requires a collegium with the participation of the CJI. Justice Joseph also said RCI must have an independent secretariat, rule-making powers as well as an independent budget to be able to function independently.

The Court further said the purity of elections in a democracy must be maintained or else it would lead to disastrous consequences.

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Currently, the Chief Election Commissioner and two commissioners for a tenure of six years each are appointed by the President of India under Article 324(2) of the Constitution.

This provision further stipulates that the President, who acts on the aid and advice of the Prime Minister and the council of ministers, will make the appointments “subject to the provisions of any law made on that behalf by Parliament”.

On November 24, the Apex Court reserved its verdict after wrapping up the arguments in a batch of four public interest litigations (PILs) that have pressed for the issuance of directives for setting up a neutral and independent selection panel for recommending names to the President for appointments as CEC and ECs.

The petitions were argued by senior counsel Gopal Sankaranarayanan and advocate Prashant Bhushan and complained that Parliament has not framed legislation despite a mandate under Article 324(2).

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Former Chief Justice of India AM Ahmadi passed away on Thursday morning. He was 91. Born as Aziz Mushabber Ahmadi, he was the 26th Chief Justice of India and served from 1994 to 1997.

Ahmadi started his law career in 1954 after he received a Bachelor of Laws and joined the Bar. In 1964, he was appointed judge to the City Civil and Sessions Court of Ahmedabad. Additionally, he was also appointed as Secretary of the Legal Affairs of the State of Gujarat during this time in 1974.

While serving as the Judge of the Gujarat High Court, Ahmadi worked as Chairman of multiple advisory boards including Maintenance of Supplied Essential Commodities, Prevention of Black Marketing, and Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities.

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AM Ahmadi also worked as a Member of the Ravi and Beas Waters Disputes Tribunal under the Rajiv-Longowal Settlement following which he was appointed as a Justice in the Supreme Court of India in December 1988. After serving in this position, he was appointed as Chief Justice of India in October 1994 and became the third Muslim ever to become the CJI.

After over two years of serving as the Chief Justice of India and authoring 232 judgments and being a part of 811 benches, Ahmadi announced his retirement in March 1997.

Ahmadi became chancellor of the Aligarh Muslim University after retiring from the Supreme Court. He was re-elected in 2002 for three years.

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