The counting of votes for Assembly elections in three northeastern states, Tripura, Meghalaya and Nagaland, began at 8 am on Thursday. Meghalaya and Nagaland went for assembly polls on February 27 and voting was held in Tripura on February 16.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which replaced Congress as a prominent presence in the North East, is confident of retaining power in Tripura and hopes to bag more seats in Nagaland, where it is an ally of the Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP).
In Tripura, Pradyot Debbarma and his TIPRA Motha are expected to emerge kingmakers. Debbarma, a scion of erstwhile royalty, will likely sway a huge number of votes among the tribal population.
All eyes are on Chief Minister Manik Saha, who is contesting from the Town Bardowali constituency. Another important constituency is the Dhanpur constituency in the Sepahijala district where Union minister Pratima Bhowmik is standing. CPI(M) state secretary Jitendra Chaudhury is contesting from the Sabroom seat.
As for Meghalaya, the options are still open as the exit polls predict a hung house. The ruling NPP, led by Chief Minister Conrad Sangma, is expected to emerge as the single biggest party and Sangma has already expressed his willingness to partner with a national party, suggesting joining hands with BJP once again. The saffron party is expected to increase its tally from 2 to 6.
The exit polls have already triggered talks of a coalition. On Wednesday, Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma met Assam CM and BJP leader Himanta Biswa Sarma in Guwahati. "Sangma was in Guwahati last night and Sarma, his friend, came and visited him at the hotel. They had a one-to-one meeting," a source told PTI.
In Nagaland, votes will be counted at 59 centres and the contest is primarily between the Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) and BJP alliance against the state's former ruling party Naga People's Front (NPF).
Tight security in place
The counting process will commence at 8 am amid tight security in all three states.
"There will be around five to eight rounds of counting in Tripura. The trends are expected to be clear by noon," the election official told PTI on Wednesday. "Prohibitory orders under Section 144 of CrPC have been clamped across the state from 6 pm on March 1 to 6 am on March 3 to prevent any untoward incident, but essential services and examinees have been kept out of its purview," he said.
Bypoll results
Apart from the three states, results will also be declared in the bypolls for Erode (East) seat in Tamil Nadu, Sagardighi in West Bengal, Ramgarh in Jharkhand. Elections were held in all three constituencies on February 27.
Polling for Kasba Peth and Chinchwad in Maharashtra was held on February 26. The results are keenly watched for this is the first Sena vs Sena elections time after the EC decision on symbol.