Voting for the Meghalaya and Nagaland Assembly polls went off peacefully on Monday, the Election Commission (EC) said
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is likely to retain power in Tripura with the Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT), according to the exit poll figures so far. The party could also form the government in Nagaland with the Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDDP) and Meghalaya may witness a hung assembly.
Voting for the three northeastern states concluded today. Exit polls could often be wrong. The counting of votes for all three states will take place on March 2.
The India Today-Axis My India exit poll showed a comfortable majority for the BJP and the IPFT in Tripura. It predicted that the BJP will win 36 to 45 seats in the assembly out of a total of 60. It also predicted the Left-Congress combine would get a paltry 6 to 11 seats with just 32% of the popular vote, a huge slide from its 43% voteshare in 2018.
However, the Times Now-ETG Research and Zee News-Matrize showed that the BJP would just fall short of majority. Times Now predicted that the BJP would win 21 to 27 seats, with a substantial drawdown from its earlier tally of 36 to just 24 seats, while Left-Congress would get 21 seats with Tipra Motha snatching 14 seats in the tribal areas. Zee News predicted along the same lines for BJP - 29 to 36 - while the Left-Congress would get between 13-21 seats, and Tipra Motha Party would get between 11 to 16.
In formerly insurgency-hit Nagaland, the NDPP is slated to get 28 to 34 seats with a vote share of 33%, according to India Today-My Axis.The poll also gives BJP a surprising 16% vote share and 10 to14 seats, possibly coming from eastern Nagaland where it focused its campaigning. Congress is predicted to get 10% votes and between 1 to 2 seats and the rump of the Naga People's Front which remained after some 21 MLAs joined NDPP is forecast to get 13% share and between 3 to 8 seats.
The Times Now also predicted that the party would win 39 to 49 seats and predicted zero for the Congress. The India Today exit polls also predict the NDPP+ alliance to take 38 to 48 seats in Nagaland out of a total of 60, whereas it predicted around 1 to 2 seats for Congress.
Early reports suggested that Meghalaya could witness a hung assembly with no party close to the majority mark, even though Meghalaya’s Chief Minister Conrad Sangma remained confident of victory.The Times Now ETG Exit poll predicted Trinamool Congress led by former chief minister Mukul Sangma would take 8 to14 seats. Zee News predicted 6 to 11 seats for the BJP and Times Now predicted 3 to 6. The NDPP, which is allied with the BJP is predicted to get 18 to 26 seats, according to Times Now. Zee News gave it 21 to 26 seats.
(With PTI inputs)