Modi wave takes BJP 8 to 14 seats in northeast, NDA tally 17

Agartala/Guwahati, 24 May 2019 — Powered by the "Modi wave", the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was alone set to win 14 of the 25 Lok Sabha seats in eight northeastern states, against 8 in the 2014 polls. 

With three NDA constituents - the Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) of Nagaland, the Mizo National Front (MNF) in Mizoram, the National People's Party (NPP) in Meghalaya - winning three seats, the tally of National Democratic Alliance (NDA) would be 17 against 11 in 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

On the other hand, the Congress, which had a strong base in all the northeastern states but currently no government under its rule in the region, had won or was set to win only four seats (three in Assam and one in Meghalaya) against eight in 2019.

The counting of votes, which started at 8 a.m. on Thursday morning, was on till midnight in many of the region's 25 Lok Sabha seats.

In Assam, the ruling BJP had either won or was leading on in nine Lok Sabha seats, while the Congress won or was ahead three seats this time like in 2014, including Kaliabor which was won by former Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi's son Gaurav Gogoi. However, All India Women Congress President Sushmita Dev lost her Silchar seat to BJP's Rajdeep Roy.

The Assam-based All India United Democratic Front, which had won three seats last time, was leading in only one seat -- Dhubri -- where party supremo Badruddin Ajmal was in the fray. In the tribal-dominated Kokrajhar constituency, Independent sitting Lok Sabha member Naba Kumar Sarania is leading with a significant margin over Pramila Rani Brahma of Bodo Peoples' Front (BPF), an ally of BJP in Assam.

Like outgoing Lok Sabha, the two BJP allies, the BPF and the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), would be no representation in the Lok Sabha this time too.

The ruling BJP set to win both the Lok Sabha seats in Arunachal Pradesh -- Tapir Gao (Arunachal East) and Kiren Rijiju ((Arunachal West). The BJP wrested the Arunachal East from the Congress while the party retained the Arunachal West constituency.

The highest ever record margin of my win in Arunachal Pradesh is overwhelming! I'm touched by such love & blessings by the people of Arunachal Pradesh. I thank hon'ble PM @narendramodi ji for the visionary guidance who galvanized the mood & hope of the people.  - Kiren Rijiju (twitter page)

In its maiden victory in Tripura's Lok Sabha battle, the ruling BJP, which in alliance with the tribal Indigenous People's Front of Tripura, wrested power in the state in the 2018 Assembly polls, is on the verge of winning both the state's two seats.

In Manipur, both the Inner Manipur and Outer Manipur seats were wrested by the BJP's Rajkumar Ranjan Singh and Naga Peoples Front candidate Lorho S. Pfoze respectively from the Congress.

In Meghalaya, former Union Minister and National People's Party (NPP) candidate Agatha Sangma won the Tura Lok Sabha seat, while sitting Congress MP Vincent Pala retained the Shillong seat.

Sangma, the younger sister of Chief Minister Conrad Sangma and daughter of former Lok Sabha Speaker late Purno Sangma, defeated her nearest rival and former Chief Minister Mukul Sangma of the Congress by a margin of 63,775 votes.

In Sikkim, putting up a stunning electoral performance, the Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM) nominee Indra Hang Subba wrested state's lone Lok Sabha seat from ruling Sikkim Democratic Front defeating Dek Bahadur Katwal by a margin of 11,585 votes. [IANS]

Resounding Modi wave as BJP secures 303

New Delhi, 24 May 2019 — The BJP's resounding victory in the Lok Sabha elections that saw Prime Minister Narendra Modi make headlines across national and international dailies and also paint a vast swath of the mainland saffron brought in its wake some outstanding results from a number of states.

In the final tally that the Election Commission continues to update the most striking numbers for the Bharatiya Janata Party were in West Bengal, where they decimated the Mamata Banerjee led ruling dispensation Trinamool Congress. To the eight years of Trinamool at the helm the Amit Shah-led BJP pulled up the biggest upset, falling just short of three seats to the TMC's figure. The final tally of 42 seats: BJP- 18, TMC- 21, Congress-3.

In Uttar Pradesh, the saffron party made a huge comeback improving its tally to 62, the SP-BSP Mahagathbandhan managed 5 and 10, respectively, while Congress somehow was spared the royal humiliation, as UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi's Rae Bareli seat remained with the party,while others got 2.

Maharashtra where the ruling BJP has not had a very happy bon homie with its ally Shiv Sena, it managed 23 seats, while Sena 18, Sharad Pawar led NCP got 4, Congress won the lone seat in Chandrapur defeating Union Minister Hansraj Ahir, and others two.

In Bihar, the BJP-JD-U, got 17 and 16 respectively, while the Congress again managed only one seat that of the Kishanganj constituency. The others bagged 6. The biggest upset was for the jailed RJD supremo Lalu Prasad, whose Rashtriya Janata Dal could not manage even a single seat amid the bickering among his sons.

In the national capital and Uttarakhand, it was BJP all the way as it managed all seven seats and five seats.

It sweeped Gujarat, Haryana and Himachal as well, bagging all 26, 10 and 4 seats, respectively.

In both Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, BJP fell short by a single seat of a complete sweep.

The Congress' humiliation was completed with Madhya Pradesh joining the other heartland states bowing to Modi brand of "nationalism"

BJP won 28 of 29 Madhya Pradesh seats and 24 of 25 in Rajasthan. Barring Chhindwara that returned the sole Congress candidate Nakul Nath, the BJP swept all including the Guna seat held by Congress General Secretary Jyotiraditya Scindhia.

The Congress' presence in the north was only defined by eight seat win in the Captain Amarinder singh led Puanjab, where the BJP and Akali's managed two seats each. The Arvind Kejriwal led Aam Aadmi Party was one of the greatest casualties, that manged only one seat by Bhagwant Mann in Sangrur.

In the Northeast, Assam where BJP got 9 seats, Congress 3, while other 2. In Arunachal Pradesh and Tripura, the BJP emerged as sole winning party as it bagged both seats in both states. In Manipur the saffron party got 1, while the second seat went to others.

In the South, the BJP could not open its account in Kerala, where Congress bagged 15 of the 20 seats, the grand old party's only saving grace as their party chief managed to hold on to the Wayanad seat with record margin, after losing the family borough Amethi to BJP's Smriti Irani in a see-saw battle. The Left got one seat with the CPM winning Alappuza and other managed 4.

In Tamil Nadu, the DMK made a comeback with 23 of the 38 seats in contention, as voting was cancelled for the Vellore seat. Congress won 8, while the AIADMK managed only one. While the BJP could not open its account in the state, the others got 6.

In Jammu and Kashmir, though, the BJP riding on the Balakot airstrike bagged 3 of 6 seats, while the rest went to others. Mehbooba Mufti's PDP and Congress could not open their accounts.

In Odisha the battle went to the wire, but the Naveen Patnaik led BJD bagged 11 of 21, while BJP make gains with 9 seats bettering its previous hold and the Congress got one. [IANS]