Feb polls in Nagaland, Tripura and Meghalaya
ELECTION IS HERE Nagaland will vote on Feb 18 while the other two states will go to polls on Feb 27 as the BJP looks to expand its reach in the northeast, dislodging the grand old party
elections in Tripura will be held on February 18 while Meghalaya and Nagaland will go to polls on February 27, the Election Commission said on Thursday. Results will be announced on March 3.
With a 60-member Assembly each, these three northeastern states may not be geographically big but the elections are significant for national parties in terms of symbolism. First, the BJP is the ruling party in 19 states and is looking to add more to its kitty, especially in the northeast where it has made deep forays and dislodged the Congress.
Meghalaya is ruled by the Congress. The BJP has launched an aggressive campaign strategy even though the main challenge to the ruling party is expected to come from the Nationalist People’s Party (NPP) of Conrad Sangma. Although the NPP is a constituent of the NDA, the BJP is likely to contest alone.
In Tripura, ruled by the Left since 1993, the BJP has emerged as the main opposition party, replacing Congress. Although the BJP does not have a local face to match the popularity of fourterm chief minister Manik Sarkar, PM Narendra Modi’s appeal in this Left bastion is unmistakable.
In Nagaland, the ruling National People’s Front (NPF) is a divided house, with party chief S Liezietsu ranged against chief minister TR Zeliang. Lok Sabha MP Neiphiu Rio quit the NPF on Wednesday to join the National Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP). The BJP is likely to ally with the NDPP and also with one of the NPF factions.
Chief election commissioner AK Joti, whose term ends on Monday, said the elections will be conducted by using electronic voting machines (EVMs) along with voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) .
NEWDELHI:Assembly
Vote Party
37.8% Congress
17.1% United Democratic Party
4.2% Hill State People’s Demo. Party 1.8% Nationalist Congress Party 8.8% National People’s Party
0.7% Garo National Council
0.8% North East Social Demo. Party 27.7% Independent
Present position: Congress 23, Independent 13, UDP 7, HSPDP 4, NPP 2, NCP 1, GNC 1, NESDP 1, vacant 8 after MLAs quit to join other parties