BJP, allies lose ground in NE states; Congress makes comeback | Latest News India

The BJP candidates won 13 seats while its allies in Assam, Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and United Peoples Party Liberal (UPPL) bagged one seat each, taking the NDA tally to 15. 

On the other hand, Congress won seven seats. One seat each was won by the Voice of People Party (VPP) and Zoram Peoples Movement (ZPM), regional parties which are not part of the NDA or the INDIA bloc. 

In 2019, BJP won 14 seats on its own while its allies Mizo National Front (MNF), Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP), Naga People’s Front (NPF) and National People’s Party (NPP) won one each seat – taking the NDA’s tally to 18. 

Congress had won four seats, and one seat each went to All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) and Independent. 

In Assam, which has the maximum seats in the region – 14, BJP won nine seats (same as in 2019), and its allies AGP and UPPL won one seat each. The Congress won three seats – the same number it had secured five years ago. 

Prominent winners for the BJP in Assam included Union minister and former Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal (Dibrugarh), who defeated Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) president Lurinjyoti Gogoi. 

“The results in Assam are as per our expectations. The verdict is very clear that voters in the state and across India want another term for Narendra Modi as prime minister,” Sonowal said. 

Congress deputy leader in the outgoing Lok Sabha, Gaurav Gogoi, won the Jorhat seat, defeating sitting BJP MP Topon Kumar Gogoi. In Dhubri, Congress candidate Rakibul Hussain ousted AIUDF president Badruddin Ajmal by a huge margin of nearly nine lakh votes. 

“This is a victory of the people and democracy. I would like to thank all voters, especially the new ones. This is the new beginning for Assam and its people,” Gaurav Gogoi said. 

In Arunachal Pradesh, both the sitting BJP MPs, Union minister Kiren Rijiju in Arunachal West and Tapir Gao in Arunachal East, won their seats.

Rijiju defeated state Congress president and former chief minister Nabam Tuki by over one lakh votes, while Gao ousted Bosiram Siram, working president of the Congress in the state, by a margin of 30,421 votes. 

In strife-torn Manipur, the ruling BJP suffered a setback where Congress candidate Bimol Akoijam, in the Inner Manipur parliamentary constituency, defeated state education minister T Basanta Kumar Singh by over one lakh votes. Akoijam got 370,678 and Singh 262,217. 

In the Outer Manipur seat, BJP ally NPF’s candidate KT Zimik lost against Alfred KS Arthur of the Congress by 82,629 votes. Arthur got 380,793, while Zimik received 298,164. In 2019, the BJP had won the Inner Manipur seat while NPF had bagged Outer Manipur. 

“The verdict in favour of Congress in both the seats (in Manipur) indicates the frustration of voters against the BJP government at Centre and in the state,” Manipur Congress president K Meghachandra Singh said. 

In Tripura, the BJP recorded a clean sweep by winning both seats with huge margins. Former chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb won Tripura West by defeating Congress state president Asish Kumar Saha by a margin of over six lakh votes. In Tripura East, Kriti Devi Debbarman, sister of Tipra Motha chief Pradyot Debbarman, defeated Communist Party of India (Marxist) candidate Rajendra Reang by over 4.86 lakh votes. 

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. 

In Nagaland’s lone Lok Sabha seat, Congress candidate S Supongmeren Jamir defeated Chumben Murry, the candidate from the ruling Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) by over 50,000 votes.

Murry has the support of all 60 candidates in the state assembly, including those from the ruling BJP. NDPP won the seat in 2019. 

In Mizoram, ruling Zoram People’s Movement (ZPM) candidate Richard Vanlalhmangaiha defeated Mizo National Front’s (MNF) K Vanlalvena by 66,845 votes. In 2019, MNF, which is a NDA ally, won the seat. 

In Meghalaya, Voice of People Party (VPP) candidate Ricky Andrew J Syngkon defeated sitting Congress MP Vincent H Pala by over 3.7 lakh votes in the Shillong seat.

In the Tura seat, Congress candidate Saleng A Sangma defeated the sitting National People’s Party MP, Agatha Sangma by over 1.5 lakh votes. In 2019, Congress had won the Shillong seat while NPP had bagged Tura. 

“Our victory shows that voters in Meghalaya are fed up with both Congress and National Peoples’ Party, which is part of the NDA, and are clamouring for change. We are yet to decide on whether to support NDA or INDIA at the Centre,” VPP president Ardent Miller Basaiwmoit told HT.