New Delhi: The Election Commission (EC) will today (January 18, 2023) announce the schedule of the General Elections to the Legislative Assemblies of Nagaland, Meghalaya, and Tripura.
A team headed by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar had last week visited the three northeastern states and held a series of meetings with the political parties and state, central security, and civil officials, especially the district-level officials of the three states in the respective state capitals.
Currently, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is the dominant party in the alliance government in Tripura, while the saffron party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) partners — Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) and National People’s Party (NPP) — lead governments in Nagaland and Meghalaya, respectively.
Nagaland Assembly elections
The tenure of the current Nagaland Legislative Assembly is scheduled to end on March 12.
Ahead of the 2018 Assembly elections, the BJP had joined hands with the Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party and had formed the government after NDPP won 18 seats in the 60-member Assembly, and the saffron party got 12.
The Naga People’s Front (NPF) had secured 26 seats but had failed to form the government.
Meghalaya Assembly Elections
The tenure of the current Meghalaya Legislative Assembly is scheduled to end on March 15.
In the 2018 elections, Congress had won 21 seats in the 60-member Assembly and was the single largest party. It, however, had failed to secure the majority to form a government.
BJP, which won only two seats, had then formed an alliance with the Conrad Sangma-led National People’s Party (NPP) to form the government.
NPP had secured 20 seats.
The 2023 Meghalaya Assembly polls will witness a three-way contest as the NPP has announced that it would fight the elections alone.
Tripura Assembly Elections
The tenure of the Tripura Assembly is scheduled to end on March 22.
Earlier in 2018, BJP had swept the Assembly polls by winning 35 seats in the 60-member Assembly.
However, with the entry of Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress, the upcoming polls will not be a cakewalk for the saffron camp.
