The Bharatiya Janata Party will continue to be a part of the government in Tripura, Nagaland and Meghalaya even as it lost seats in Tripura, where it had registered a stupendous win in 2018. Despite the climb down in seats, the results were enough for the party to continue its dominance in the region.
At the end of the day, the BJP is well-poised to form a government comfortably in Tripura with the help of its ally the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT), crossing the majority mark on its own. In Meghalaya and Nagaland, too, the BJP will continue being in the government with the Conrad Sangma-led National People’s Party(NPP), and the Neiphiu Rio-led Nationalist Democratic People’s Party (NDPP).
This term, the BJP retained the same number of seats that it won in Nagaland (12) and Meghalaya (2) in 2018 but lost four seats in Tripura where it had won 36 seats in 2018, dethroning the Manik Sarkar-led Left government which had won the mandate in the state for five consecutive terms.
The party had then appointed Biplab Deb as the chief minister, but mounting anti-incumbency forced the party to change leadership to appoint Manik Saha, a dentist, to the state’s top job. The similarities between the Saha and Sarkar, with the perception of humility and simple lifestyle, seems to have paid off for the BJP.
In Nagaland, it fought the elections on a 20:40 seat-sharing basis with the Neiphiu Rio-led Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP). While the NDPP increased its tally by seven seats between 2018 (18 seats) and 2023 (25 seats), the BJP’s rally in both terms remained the same with 12 seats. As the discussions around the Naga Accord enter a crucial phrase, it will be important to see how the results play out in the coming days, especially since Nagaland now has an Opposition. The wins of the non-NDA players like Nationalist Congress Party (7 seats), the Janata Dal (United) (1 seat), and the Lok Janshakti Party (2 seats) will lead to an Opposition. Like 2018, the NPP has registered wins in Nagaland, too, winning 5 seats, an increase from the 2 seats it won in 2018.
In Meghalaya, the BJP’s electoral fate did not change much at 2 seats, but its ally, the NPP won six more seats than it did in 2018 – this term the NPP won 6 seats. The United Democratic Party (UDP), too, has increased it tally from 6 to 11 this term.
After the results were declared, Modi and BJP president JP Nadda addressed the party workers, and Modi expressed his gratitude to the voters as well as the party’s karyakartas in the three states. “These people have blessed the BJP and its allies. it isn't easy to work in the northeast, and therefore a special thank is due to them,” Modi said.
The BJP, for its part, credited the prime minister’s vision of peace and development for the region and the Centre's allocation of Rs 3.5 lakh crore in the last eight years for its wins. Party leaders said that the prime minister went to the region a total of 51 times in the last five years; union law minister Kiren Rijiju told reporters at the party headquarters that Modi’s “visionary” agenda was reaching the far flung corners of the country. “If we’re winning elections, it means we’re winning people’s confidence,” Rijiju said.
The party hoped that its increasing footprint in the region could still help it win most of the Northeast’s 25 Lok Sabha seats in 2024, compensating for likely losses elsewhere.