Election Results 2023: Conrad Sangma’s NPP is ahead on 22 seats in Meghalaya, while BJP is leading in Tripura and Nagaland according to early leads.
BJP raced ahead in Tripura and the party’s alliance took a strong lead in Nagaland in early trends as votes were counted today in three northeastern states. In Meghalaya, the BJP’s estranged ally Conrad Sangma’s NPP is leading.
Here are the top developments:
- In Tripura, the ruling BJP has taken a lead over its nearest rival, the Left-Congress alliance. The BJP is hoping for a big comeback, far above its 2018 score of 36. The party has contested in alliance with ruling partner Indigenous Progressive Front of Tripura, or IPFT. The BJP is currently leading on 30 seats.
- “Tripura will have a BJP Chief Minister, Nagaland will have a coalition government while that of Meghalaya will be decided as per seats won by the BJP,” Himanta Biswa Sarma, Assam Chief Minister and the BJP’s chief strategist in the northeast, predicted yesterday.
- In Meghalaya, Conrad Sangma’s National People’s Party or NPP is ahead of the BJP and Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress.
- In Nagaland, the BJP and its partner NDPP (Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party) have surged ahead and are leading on 42 seats in the 60-member assembly.
- The outcome of these elections, along with other polls later this year, will be crucial for parties ahead of next year’s general election.
- In Meghalaya, the BJP and Conrad Sangma’s NPP contested the election separately after a five-year alliance. But the parties are believed to be in talks. Mr Sangma and Himanta Biswa Sarma held discussions in a midnight meeting in Guwahati on Tuesday. Sources said they discussed the possibility of a post-poll alliance, though the leaders played it down as a “meeting between friends”.
- Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress can play a key role in a tight race. An aggregate of four exit polls have predicted that the BJP will get seven seats, up from two, which would take the strength of the alliance to 27 seats, four short of majority in the 60-member assembly.