Women failed yet again to penetrate a male bastion called Nagaland assembly but the February polls underscored the rise of women on the political horizon in the Northeast.
Terming the victory of the party in Tripura as historic, CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat today said the fifth straight win proved that the policies of the Left Front has found takers among the masses.
Nagaland's verdict in favour of the Naga People's Front (NPF) defied the anti-incumbency wave in the state. It also revealed the leadership crisis in the Congress that is seeking a successor to former chief minister SC Jamir.
Voters in three north-eastern states have maintained the status quo. On Thursday, their verdict strengthened the Left Front's last post in Tripura, weakened the Congress in Nagaland and showed the door to Purno A Sangma in Meghalaya.
Meghalaya on Thursday helped the Congress improve its tally while backing its allies in the outgoing government. Its voters also told former Lok Sabha speaker Purno Agitok Sangma that his time was up.
Tripura has once again shown communism matters in India. This 10,491 sq km state wedged into Bangladesh has also reaffirmed its faith in a 'homeless' chief minister.
The stakes are high for the Congress as three north-eastern states await assembly election results today. The focus is also on Tripura where the Left Front hopes to hold on to its last post in India. HT reports.
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi will hold talks with PCC chiefs and CLP leaders from the northeastern states in New Delhi tomorrow in a bid to strengthen the party in states ahead of the Lok Sabha elections in 2014.
Brisk polling was witnessed in Nagaland where 67.29% votes were cast till 2pm today for 59 seats of the state assembly amidst unprecedented security.
An estimated 85% of 1,503,907 voters in Meghalaya and 83% of 1,193,438 voters in Nagaland cast their votes today, with no violence reported in either state.
Alcoholics and ‘encroacher’ elephants have joined militants and miscreants in adding sensitivity to certain polling stations as about 1.5 million voters in Meghalaya and nearly 1.2 million voters in Nagaland prepare to exercise their franchise on Saturday.
Nagaland goes to the polls on Saturday to elect 60 members to the 12th assembly from among 188 candidates with an 11.93 lakh electorate.
In January last year, border security force personnel caught Md Zakaria, Md Sohel Ahmed, Babillula Zalali and Pulin Sinha at Lyngkhat on Meghalaya’s border with Bangladesh.
At least three rivers across Meghalaya’s coal belts are dead. A few, such as river Waikhyrwi, have been diverted to facilitate mining on the riverbed, Rahul Karmakar reports.
Policymakers in Nagaland have often wielded customary tribal laws to discourage women from contesting polls. The decision of Yangerla and Rakhila Lakiumong to contest the February 23 assembly elections was thus nothing short of rebellion.