Exit polls by various channels predicted a hung house in Meghalaya, a win for NDPP, backed by the BJP in Nagaland, the two states that went to polls on Monday, and seemed to oscillate between predicting a clean sweep for the BJP to a hung house in the state of Tripura, where a new party the Tipra Motha may emerge as a potential king-maker in the polls, held a week back, as per a PTI report.
The BJP has been projected as performing well in all three of the northeastern states, Tripura, Meghalaya, and Nagaland, according to these exit polls. And while exit polls are not foolproof predictions, there is something to be said about a number of factors which have may have tilted things in BJP’s favour in the Northeast.
As per a report in Money Control written by political commentator Sagarneel Sinha, there are a couple of things which he says have worked in BJP’s favour. These are:
Nagaland: The NDPP, which is led by ally chief minister Neiphiu Rio, is a significant contributor to the saffron party’s success. Rio is a well-known figure in the region. The demise of the opposition in the state, in addition to the Modi factor, has contributed to the NDPP-BJP partnership, the report says.
What About Meghalaya?
Both the Times Now ETG Exit and India Today-My Axis polls predicted a hung house in the state described as ‘Scotland of the east’, even though Meghalaya’s Chief Minister Conrad Sangma remained confident of victory.
“We are happy that exit poll predictions are in line with our belief that we will get more seats than what we did last time … we are keeping all our options and will do what is in the best interest of the state,” Sangma said, in an indication that post-poll alliances were being thought of.
The Times Now ETG Exit poll predicted Sangma’s NPP would get 18-26 seats, Trinamool Congress led by former chief minister Mukul Sangma would take 8-14 seats, UDP another 8-14 seats while BJP would improve its tally from two to anything between 3-6 seats.
India Today-My Axis predicted that NPP would bag 18-24 seats, short of majority, forcing it to look towards other parties to shore up figures. It also gave UDP 8-12 seats, Congress 6-12 seats, TMC 5-9 seats and the BJP 4-8 seats.
The Zee News-Matrize exit poll predicted that the National People’s Party will retain Meghalaya with 21 to 26 seats. Also It predicted 8-13 seats for Trinamool and 6-11 for BJP.
As per Sinha in his report, the Meghalaya BJP boasts some well-known faces, such Sanbor Shullai and Alexander Laloo Hek, in addition to the Modi factor.
The Hindu minority voting overwhelmingly for the BJP is likely to be advantageous to the party. In the elections, the BJP campaigned on every seat and didn’t hold back while criticising the NPP, a prominent partner in the BJP-led North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA). The BJP is the party in power at the federal level, and having the federal government on your side is usually advantageous, so the NPP is likely to maintain its alliance with it, he argues.
With PTI inputs
Read all the Latest Explainers here
Comments
0 comment