State BJP celebrates electoral victory

BJP president Biplab Deb (L) and partys national general secretary Ram Madhav celebrating with supporters after winning a majority in Tripura Assembly elections, in Agartala on Saturday.

The BJP won 35 seats in Tripura’s state legislature against the CPI (M)’s 16 seats, according to India’s Election Commission.

The BJP ended the 25-year rule of the Left front in Tripura and its alliance rode to power in Christian-dominated Nagaland decimating the Congress. In a remarkable performance, the alliance swept all the 20 seats reserved for tribals.

“Today, however, our karyakartas from West Bengal and Kerala, who have been victims of violence by the Left parties, are extremely happy and I have been receiving messages relaying their satisfaction with the results in Tripura since this afternoon”, he said.

The BJP’s strong showing came as a surprise for many as the party did not even have a councillor in Tripura.

Out of power in the state since the last 14 years, the Congress is planning to highlight the “unfulfilled” promises of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, whom the party has termed as a “Ghoshnaveer” (a man of hollow promises). “The entire Congress leadership crossed over to the BJP”, CPI (M) politburo member Brinda Karat told PTI. Votes for this will be counted on March 15. The NPF looks set to emerge as the largest party having won 24 seats and leading in three.

The Congress party has given three chief ministers – Hokishe Sema, K.L. Chishi and S.C. Jamir – to Nagaland.

As soon as the counting of votes began on Saturday morning, the trends reflected a close fight between the ruling Left and the BJP.

NDPP chief Neiphiu Rio had been elected unopposed from Northern Angami II last week after his NPF rival withdrew from the contest in Northern Angami-II.

Modi’s BJP is now governing 19 of India’s 29 states, compared with five by the Congress party. The BJP got two.

The Congress has already parachuted its two senior leaders Ahmed Patel and Mukul Wasnik to try and form the new government in Meghalaya. The smaller winning parties include PDF (4), UDP (6) and HSPDP (2).

He said his party’s historic victory in Tripura is “as much an ideological one”.

The party stated that the decision was taken after a serious consideration of the current verdict of the declared results of the 13th Nagaland Legislative Assembly elections, and also to safeguard the interest of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in Delhi.

Currently, Karnataka is the only big state ruled by the Congress in the country.