BJP touches magic number in Tripura, NPP NDPP ahead in Meghalaya & Nagaland

The election results of the poll bound 3 sisters among the seven sisters started trickling in Early morning. In Tripura, BJP has been able to touch majority mark while NPP and NDPP are leading in Meghalaya and Nagaland among the rest of the parties. The results of lead of all the trio states having 60 seats are as follows.

BJP retains Tripura securing an absolute majority

The ruling BJP retained power in Tripura by securing an absolute majority on its own claiming 32 seats in the 60-member Assembly in the vote count on Thursday.

With its ally Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT) winning one seat, the coalition which has been running the tiny North Eastern state for the last five years, clinched 33 seats. The polls were held on February 16.

Tribal outfit TIPRA Motha, given the shape of a political party only two years back, emerged as the largest opposition party with 13 seats

The new Left Front-Congress alliance, which had thrown a challenge to the BJP, failed to dislodge the saffron outfit from power, and settled for 14 seats. LF major CPI-M won 11 and the Congress got three seats.

Chief Minister Manik Saha and all his ministers, except Deputy Chief Minister Jishnu Dev Varma, won their seats. Speaker of the outgoing Assembly Ratan Chakraborty and his deputy Biswa Bandhu Sen also registered victories.

The Chief Minister won the prestigious Town Bardowali seat by 1257 votes over his nearest rival veteran Congress leader and three times MLA Asish Kumar Saha.

The race, however, was tight. Manik Saha, a dental surgeon who became the chief minister only last year, had defeated Asish Kumar Saha in a by-poll last June by more than 6,000 votes.

Jishnu Dev Varma lost in the Charilam seat by a margin of 651 votes to his nearest rival of TIPRA Motha’s Subodh Debbarma. Dev Varma had won the seat in 2018 with the highest margin of 25000 votes.

State BJP President Rajib Bhattacharjee also bit the dust in Banamalipur constituency by a margin of 1253 votes to veteran Congress leader Gopal Roy. The party suffered another setback as its state general secretary Papiya Datta lost to Congress stalwart Sudip Roybarman by a margin of 8162 votes.

Two other BJP general secretaries Kishore Barman and Tinku Roy won from Nalchar and Chandipur seats by a margin of 2508 and 620 votes respectively.

The union minister of state for empowerment and social justice Pratima Bhowmik won the Dhanpur seat by a margin of 3440 votes.

The lone victorious IPFT candidate Shukla Charan Noatia, got elected from the Julaibari seat, a stronghold of CPI-M.

The CPI (M) state secretary Jitendra Chaudhury, Congress president Birjit Sinha and MLA Sudip Roybarman won their seats.

An elated Manik Saha said the BJP won because of the government’s development activities and the welfare schemes of the central government.

“I was confident in winning during my campaign because people liked the development activities of BJP led government in the state and the welfare schemes of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. I hope the second term of BJP government will be more effective and there will be more development and welfare,” Dr Saha told media.

He said that BJP’s victory was certain long back but the opposition didn’t realize it rather they thought negation politics would pave their way to success, and added, “We always prefer to do politics for the people and erase the negativity because voters are mature enough to demarcate the good and bad – it’s a lesson for the parties and the leaders as a whole.”

On the other hand, the Congress-LF leaders blamed the TIPRA Motha for dividing the opposition votes.

The ‘Motha’ supremo royal scion Pradyot Kishore Manikya DebBarma had called upon his party workers and supporters not to divide the opposition vote, but it appears from the poll results that the tribal outfit’s presence only benefited the BJP, alleged Congress leader Prasanta Bhattacharjee.

“In several other constituencies, Motha played the spoilsport for the opposition which will be clearer only after the final results are out,” said CPI-M leader Ratan Das adding that at least 15 seat CPI-M and Congress candidates lost in a narrow margin due to the Motha chipping away with precious votes.

BJP	33
Left	14
TMP	13
Others	00

Meghalaya seems headed to a hung Assembly, NPP makes leads

Meghalaya seems headed to a hung Assembly, with the ruling National People’s Party (NPP) on course to finishing as the single largest party over four hours into the counting for the 60-member House on Thursday.

The NPP has bagged the only five seat declared so far and is leading in 24 other constituencies, while the United Democratic Party has forged ahead in eight and the BJP is occupying pole position in five constituencies with trends and results available for 57 of the 59 seats in the North Eastern state, known for its scenic beauty.

The election in the Sohiong constituency has been adjourned following the death of former Home Minister and United Democratic Party candidate, Horju Donkupar Roy Lyngdoh.

Chief Minister and NPP national supremo, Conrad Sangma is leading by a huge margin of 2,830 votes to his nearest rival of the BJP Bernard Marak in South Tura seat.

However, the Chief Minister’s brother and senior NPP minister, James Sangma lost his Dadenggre assembly seat by a slim margin of just 7 votes to Trinamool Congress (TMC) nominee Rupa Marak.

Interestingly, the TMC and the Voice of the People Party (VPP), which are contesting the assembly elections for the first time, have won in three seats each.

The Congress, which had finished as the single largest party in the previous election held five years back, won the Mawkyrwat assembly constituency and leading in three other seats.

Meghalaya Pradesh Congress Committee president and sitting Lok Sabha member, Vincent Pala lost on his home turf Sutnga-Saipung to NPP’s Santa Mary Shylla by 2,019 votes. Shylla polled 15,414 votes against Pala’s 13,395 votes.

All 21 Congress legislators elected in 2018 had crossed over to other parties in the intervening years. The TMC was virtually born out of deserters form the Congress.

The People’s Democratic Front aspirants were towering over their rivals in two seats, while three independents are also leading

Deputy Chief Minister and NPP national vice president, Prestone Tynsong is leading by over 4000 votes over his nearest rival United Democratic Party (UDP) candidate, Anthony Justine Kongwang in the Pynursla assembly seat.

UDP president and incumbent Assembly Speaker Metbah Lyngdoh is leading by a slender margin against Congress’ candidate, Batskhem Ryntathiang in Mairang assembly seat. UDP was an ally in the outgoing NPP-led Meghalaya Democratic Alliance government.

Another UDP candidate and Social Welfare Minister Kyrmen Shylla is leading by a big margin of 3432 votes against NPP heavyweight Nehlang Lyngdoh from Khliehriat assembly constituency.

For the BJP, incumbent Labour minister Sanbor Shullai is all set to retain his Shillong South seat for the third consecutive term, while senior BJP leader Alexander Laloo Hek is also leading by 570 votes.

Trinamool Congress state President Charles Pyngrope is leading against UDP candidate Jemino Mawthoh by 397 votes.Former Chief Minister and TMC leader Dr Mukul Sangma, in the fray from two seats, is leading by a slender margin of 77 votes in Songsak, but trailing by a huge margin of 3,719 votes in Tikrikilla. 

The main electoral battle is among the six major political parties -National People’s Party (NPP), United Democratic Party (UDP), Trinamool Congress (TMC), Congress, BJP and the newly floated political outfit Voice of the People Party (VPP).

However, in the Garo hills, the tussle is mainly between the Conrad Sangma-led NPP and TMC, while in the Khasi-Jaintia Hills comprising seven districts, the competition is between the UDP, Congress, TMC, NPP, VPP and the BJP.

Important leaders whose fate will be unveiled include incumbent Chief Minister Conrad Sangma (South Tura seat) and his deputy – Prestone Tynsong (Pynursla ), Assembly Speaker Metbah Lyngdoh (Mairang) and his deputy Timothy Shira (Resubelpara) and leader of opposition Mukul Sangma (Songsak and Tikrikilla), former Union Minister and Congress party chief, Vincent Pala.

NPP	25
BJP	04
Congress	05
TMC	05
Others	21

Nagaland: NDPP-BJP alliance on its way towards clear majority

NDPP-BJP alliance in Nagaland is on its way to form the government with a clear majority in the 60-member Assembly with the votes being counted on Thursday.The BJP has won two seats outright and was ahead in 11 more. Its partner Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) has bagged 8 and continued to lead in another 17 seats. The alliance thus has either won or is leading in 38 seats, according to the Election Commission of India.

The Republican Party of India, which had contested two seats, managed to win both. Independent candidates coasted to victory in two seats and were leading in two other constituencies. Lok Janshakti Party(Ram Vilas) aspirants won in one seat and are leading in two others.

The Naga People's Front (NPF) was ahead in one seat, while the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has triumphed in one seat and was leading in five constituencies. The National People's Party (NPP) won two and was ahead in three seats.

A Janata Dal (United) contestant was ahead in one seat.The Congress, which failed to open its account in the previous Nagaland Assembly polls five years ago, is not in the lead in any of the constituencies so far.

The Assembly polls were held for 59 seats on Monday when 85.79 percent polling was registered. The Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Kazheto Kinimi earlier won uncontested from the Akuluto constituency after the Congress nominee withdrew from the race.

On Tuesday, repolling was held in four polling stations.Nagaland Assembly has the unique feature of having no opposition as all parties in the 60-member assembly backed the Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party-led government.

Amid intense security, the counting of votes began for the Nagaland Assembly election on Thursday.The counting is being done for 59 constituencies in the 60-member House where the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Kazheto Kinimi won uncontested from the Akuluto constituency after the Congress nominee withdrew from the race.

NDPP	36
NPF	02
Congress	00
Others	22