BJP, allies on strong footing in Northeast; Congress leading in six seats
BJP and allies lead in 24 seats across northeastern states, with BJP ahead in 11 seats. Congress leads in 6 seats; close fights observed in various constituencies.
Guwahati: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies are on a strong footing in the 24 seats in seven northeastern states, two hours after the counting began on Tuesday at 8am.
Till 10am, the BJP candidates were ahead in 11 seats while their allies Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), Naga People’s Front (NPF) and United Peoples Party Liberal (UPPL) were leading in one seat each. Congress candidates were leading in six seats in the northeastern states.
In 2019, the BJP won 14 seats in the region, Congress won four, and one each was won by Mizo National Front (MNF), NPF, National People’s Party (NPP), Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP), All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) and an Independent.
In Assam, which has the maximum seats in the region – 14, the BJP was leading in six seats, Congress in three, AGP in one and UPPL in one. Trends for the two other seats were not available till 9:30.am.
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Union minister Sarbananda Sonowal is leading in Dibrugarh against Assam Jatiya Parishad president Lurinjyoti Gogoi, a candidate from the INDIA bloc.
In the neighbouring Jorhat, Congress deputy leader in Lok Sabha, Gaurav Gogoi, is leading against sitting BJP MP Topon Kumar Gogoi. In Dhubri, AIUDF president and sitting MP Badruddin Ajmal is trailing against Congress’ Rakibul Hussain.
In Arunachal Pradesh, both the sitting BJP’s MP Kiren Rijiju in Arunachal West and Tapir Gao in Arunachal East, are leading. Rijiju is facing state Congress president and former chief minister Nabam Tuki, while Gao has been pitted against state Congress working president Bosiram Siram.
In Tripura, both BJP candidates are leading in the two seats. Former chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb is leading in Tripura West while Kriti Devi Debbarman, sister of Tipra Motha chief Pradyot Debbarman, is leading in Tripura East seat.
In 2019, the BJP had won both these seats. While Rebati Tripura had won from Tripura East, Pratima Bhowmik had bagged the Tripura West seat.
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In Nagaland’s lone Lok Sabha seat, Congress candidate S Supongmeren Jamir is leading against NDPP’s Chumben Murry. NDPP won the seat in 2019.
In Mizoram, ruling Zoram People’s Movement (ZPM) candidate Richard Vanlalhmangaiha is leading against MNF’s K Vanlalvena by over 25,000 votes. In 2019, MNF won the seat.
In Meghalaya, Voice of People Party (VPP) candidate Ricky Andrew J Syngkon is leading against sitting Congress MP Vincent H Pala. In the Tura seat, Congress candidate Saleng A Sangma is leading against sitting NPP MP Agatha Sangma. In 2019, Congress had won the Shillong seat while NPP had bagged Tura.
A close fight is being witnessed in the Inner Manipur seat. At 10am, Congress candidate Bimol Akoijam was leading against BJP’s T Basanta Kumar Singh by over 1,700 votes.
In the Outer Manipur seat, NPF candidate KT Zimik is leading against Congress’s Alfred Kanngam S Arthur by 27,978 votes. In 2019, BJP won the Inner Manipur seat while NPF had bagged Outer Manipur.