Vibha Sharma
Chandigarh, January 18
The Election Commission on Wednesday announced the poll dates for three northeastern states, thereby initiating the busy poll schedule for elections in as many as nine states in 2023 ahead of the big one next year — the Lok Sabha elections.
Tripura will poll on February 16 and Nagaland and Meghalaya on February 27.
The BJP is in power in Tripura. It is also a part of the ruling coalition in Nagaland and Meghalaya.
Meanwhile, the other states that will poll this year are Karnataka, Mizoram, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Telangana. Elections may also be held in Jammu amp; Kashmir.
Tripura (60 seats)
Tripura is one of the northeastern states where the BJP is in power. The party in May 2022 replaced Biplab Kumar Deb with Manik Saha as the chief minister to beat the anti-incumbency factor and iron out other issues, including differences within the state unit.
According to reports, BJP’s relationship with ally Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura (IPFT) is doing “not so well”. Besides some BJP leaders have also joined Tipra—Tipraha Indigenous Progressive Regional Alliance
Ending the long Left rule in the state, the BJP won 33 seats in 2018, the IPFT four, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) 15, and the Congress one.
Technically therefore CPM is its main rival.
However, observers are keeping a close watch on the TIPRA which thrashed both BJP and CPM in the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council election in April 2021. TIPRA and Indigenous Nationalist Party of Twipra won 18 of the 28 elected council seats.
Others in the fray include Mamata Banerjee-led TMC, RSP, All India Forward Bloc and the CPI. Former Congress leader Sushmita Dev is now with the TMC, which is trying to increase its presence in the state.
Meghalaya (60 seats)
National People’s Party’s Conrad Sangma is the Chief Minister of the state though his party, the NPP, came second in 2018. While Congress was the largest party, it fell short of the halfway mark following which NPP allied with regional parties, including United Democratic Party, People’s Democratic Front, Hill State People’s Democratic Party, BJP and an independent to form the government.
The ruling coalition has the blessings of the BJP. Opposition includes TMC with nine seats. Many seats are also vacant. However, differences are being reported between NPP and BJP. There are also reports of Conrad Sangma indicating going it alone this time.
The BJP, meanwhile, is hoping to lead the coalition government. Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who is also the convener of the North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA), is working to build bridges and alliances while TMC is gearing up to give a good fight in the state.
Nagaland (60 seats)
The BJP is in alliance with the Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party led by Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio. The ruling United Democratic Alliance (UDA) includes NDPP, BJP and Naga People’s Front (NPF).
There seems to be limited opposition to the ruling coalition, according to reports. However, some tribes are demanding a separate state ‘Frontier Nagaland’, which is a major issue.
BJP, meanwhile, is planning to contest on one-thirds of the seats and support allies on the rest. It believes that the partial lifting of the AFSPA has built perceptions in its favour, however, recently a couple of its district presidents jumped ship, leading to speculations that all was not well.
