The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies stormed back to power in Tripura and Nagaland, while Meghalaya results showed a divided mandate, with its incumbent Chief Minister Conrad Sangma seeking support from the saffron outfit.
According to the data available on the Election Commission’s website at the time of going to press, the BJP-IPFT won 33 seats in the 60-member Tripura Assembly, while the BJP-NDPP won the same number of seats in Nagaland to see its Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio for a record fifth time. have returned to power.
Meanwhile, the ruling National People’s Party (NPP) in Meghalaya has emerged as the single largest party by winning 26 of the 59 seats that went to polls on February 27, the Election Commission said. However, it fell short of securing a majority in the 60-member assembly, even as Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that his Meghalaya counterpart Konrad K Sangma had sought Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s support in forming a new government.
The BJP, which fielded star campaigners including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, party chief JP Nadda and Shah, managed to win only two seats. The United Democratic Party (UDP), which was an ally of the NPP in the Sangma government, emerged as the second largest party by winning 11 seats. The Congress and Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) won five seats each.
In Tripura, Tipra Motha, formed by Pradyot Kishore Debbarma, a former scion of the Tripura royal family, won 13 seats, while the Left-Congress alliance won 14, Debbarma’s party eating into the Left’s tribal votes. Of the 28 seats TMC contested, it failed to win a single seat.
Although the alliance of the BJP and the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT) returned to power for the second time, both the parties won fewer seats than their performance in 2018, mainly with Tipra Motha doing well in tribal areas. The saffron party contested 55 seats and won 32, which is three less than in 2018. The Communist Party of India (Marxist), which was voted out of power in 2018 after ruling the state for 25 years, won 11 of the 47 seats. Vote share 24.62 percent.
In Nagaland, Neiphiu Rio broke the record of veteran leader SC Jamir, who won the state thrice. The Election Commission said the Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party won 21 seats, while the BJP got 12.
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