Northeast Elections 2023: Who are the big winners from Tripura, Nagaland, & Meghalaya?

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies have made a strong position in the northeastern territory. A marginal player since decades, the BJP has emerged stronger this time, with turning the entire Left-Congress bastion into saffron. According to the Election Commission, heavy-weight leaders including Neiphiu Rio, Temjen Imna Along, Manik Saha and Conrad Sangma have retained their electoral grounds in the Northeast elections 2023. 

With the big win of the leaders, the BJP is leading to make its government in Tripura and Nagaland. However, hung assembly in Meghalaya will invite NPP, BJP and other regional parties to join each other's hand and constitute a majority government. The election in all three states concluded on February 27 and the counting of votes began on March 2 to elect 60 members to the assemblies of each state. After the halfway mark of counting, it was clear that the politics of northeast will now revolve around BJP and the Congress, CPM and other regional parties, in the opposition. 

Close-electoral battle between big leaders

After the postal ballots were counted and the electronic voting machines started to reveal the trends in the three northeastern states of Nagaland, Tripura and Meghalaya, several big leaders saw a close fight in their constituencies. In Meghalaya, Trinamool Congress' (TMC) Rupa M Marak went on a close battle with her opponent James Pangsang Kongkal Sangma, who is from National People's Party (NPP). However, TMC's Rupa registered her victory in Dadenggre constituency with a mere margin of 18 votes. 

In Nagaland, BJP state chief Temjen Imna Along got into a close-tussle with Janata Dal-United's J Lanu Longchar. However, after trailing for more than an hour, the BJP leader registered victory. In yet another close battle seen at Meghalaya's Rajabala, Dr Mizanur Rahman Kazi of TMC registered victory over  Abdus Saleh of NPP with a margin of 10 votes.