BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) looked to retain its governments in Tripura and Nagaland while chief minister Conrad Sangma was headed for a second term in Meghalaya, early counting trends showed on Thursday.
In Tripura where BJP overthrew a long communist rule in the 2018 Assembly polls, the saffron party crossed halfway mark of 30 and was leading in 32 out of a total of 60 constituencies.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) – the main Opposition party in Tripura – was leading on 11 seats.
Significantly, the newly-floated regional party by the scion of the former Tripura royal family, Pradyot Kishore Manikya Debbarma’s Tipra Motha Party has disrupted traditional political equations and is competing with CPI (M) to dominate the Opposition space. The party, which demands a separate Tipraland, is leading on 11 seats.
In Nagaland, the election commission data showed National Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) is leading on 23 seats followed by BJP which has won two seats and is leading on 11 others. Sharad Pawar’s National Congress Party (NCP) is leading on five seats while the Congress party was ahead by two seats.
In Meghalaya, CM Conrad Sangma’s Nationalist Congress Party (NPP) was leading on 23 seats and has emerged victorious in one constituency. Interestingly, the Trinamool Congress, BJP and Congress were leading on five seats each at 12 noon.
BJP was part of the NPP government for the last five years but walked away from the alliance before the elections.
Counting started with postal ballots in all three states at 8 am on Thursday.
Elaborate security arrangements have been made in Tripura, Nagaland and Meghalaya. The government has deployed 22 companies of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in Meghalaya.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) has banned victory celebrations till 4 pm on March 4.
In polls held in February, Tripura recorded a voting percentage of 87.6 per cent followed by Nagaland at 86.98 per cent and Meghalaya at 85.27 per cent.
Nagaland and Meghalaya went to the Assembly election on February 27 while Tripura voted on February 16.