BJP Headed for Victory in Tripura, Nagaland and Meghalaya; Congress Set for Wipeout

The BJP is tipped to retain Tripura, return to power in Nagaland with coalition partner National Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) and marginally improve its tally in Meghalaya, while the Congress, which once dominated the Northeast, is headed for a wipeout in the three states, according to exit polls. An aggregate of the four exit polls whose results started trickling in on Monday evening, soon after voting had finished in Meghalaya and Nagaland – Tripura voted on February 16 — indicates that the BJP, which bagged 36 seats in Tripura in 2018, may scrape past the halfway mark, winning 32 seats in the 60-member Assembly. The TIPRA Motha, led by royal scion Pradyot Debbarma, which was believed widely to be the kingmaker of this election, is predicted to get 13 seats. The Left, which fought for the first time in an “arrangement” with the Congress in the state, may have to contend with just 15 seats. Axis My India polls, telecast by India Today channel, predicted a huge majority for the ruling BJP-IPFT coalition in Tripura, with 36-45 seats, ETG Research-Times Now was more conservative, giving 21-27 seats to the combination. In Meghalaya, no party is predicted to cross the halfway mark in the 60-member Assembly. The ruling National People’s Party (NPP), as per the aggregate of the four exit polls, may end up with 20 seats. The BJP, an NPP ally in power but which fought the elections separately, may increase its tally from 2 to 6. The Trinamool Congress, which had overnight become the principal Opposition in the state after 12 Congress MLAs defected to it in November 2021, could win up to 11 seats. In Nagaland, the NDPP-BJP coalition looks poised to return with a comfortable majority of 42 seats in the 60-member House. Hoping to claw back in Tripura with their once-unthinkable arrangement, the Left and Congress Monday downplayed the exit polls, pointing out these have been way off the mark in the past.