In the assembly election results of three Northeast Indian states on Thursday, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) retained power in Tripura and Nagaland, whereas the Conrad Sangma-led National People's Party (NPP) emerged as the single-largest party in Meghalaya but fell short of the majority mark of 31.
In Tripura, the BJP on its own secured majority with 32 seats. In Nagaland, the Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) secured 25 seats and partner BJP secured 12 seats, taking the coalition well past the majority mark of 31.
Tweeting on the victory in Tripura, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said "this is a vote for progress and stability".
Tripura
The ruling BJP-Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT) coalition returned to power with 33 of 60 seats. While the BJP won 32 seats, the IPFT won one seat.
The Tipra Motha Party emerged as the second-largest party with 13 seats. The CPI-M secured 11 seats and the Congress secured three seats, thus taking their coalition to 14 seats.
The counting of votes began at 8am on Thursday for the assembly elections. The Tipra Motha is believed to taken over the tribal vote share in Tripura.
The polling was held on February 16. A total of 89.98 per cent of 28.12 lakh voters exercised their franchise.
Nagaland
The ruling NDPP-BJP alliance won a second term for their government in Nagaland. The NDPP secured 25 seats and partner BJP secured 12 seats, taking the coalition well past the majority mark of 31.
Nagaland got its first-ever woman MLA today, after 60 years since it attained statehood. Hekani Jakhalu, from BJP's ally NDPP, has won from Dimapur-III seat. The 48-year-old lawyer-activist was among four women of the total 183 candidates who contested the Nagaland assembly elections.
Counting of votes for the 59 Nagaland Assembly seats started at 8 am with postal ballots followed by EVMs.
Elections were held for 59 Assembly seats on February 27.
Meghalaya
The Conrad Sangma-led National People's Party (NPP) has emerged as the single-largest party in Meghalaya but has fallen short of the majority mark of 31.
The NPP won 26 seats and the BJP won two seats. BJP National President JP Nadda has asked BJP state unit to support Sangma's NPP, according to BJP northeast pointman Himanta Biswa Sarma.
Counting of votes began in Meghalaya at 8 am amid tight security. Meghalaya has 60 seats, but polling in the Sohiong seat was adjourned due to the death of a candidate.
(With PTI inputs)
