- Three Indian states in the country’s northeast region held their assembly elections.
- All three states have 60 seats in their assembly where 31 seats are needed to secure the majority.
- According to recent data from the Election Commission, the turnout in Meghalaya was 81.57 and Nagaland at 85.90 percent. Tripura recorded nearly 87.6 percent.
- The exit polls published by several agencies for Meghalaya suggest no single party or alliance will  manage to secure a majority.
- Exit polls for Tripura assembly elections show BJP and its ally IPFT will manage to secure the majority.
- As the exit polls indicate, BJP and its ally NDPP are poised to secure a comfortable majority in Nagaland.
Three Indian states in the country’s northeast region held their assembly elections. The exit polls began hours later after Meghalaya and Nagaland finished their voting. So far, the exit polls have suggested that Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies will lead in two states while there will be a close race for Meghalaya.
All three states have 60 seats in their assembly where 31 seats are needed to secure the majority. The elections in Meghalaya and Nagaland took place across 59 constituencies in each of the two states. However, one seat in Meghalaya was adjourned due to the death of a candidate while no poll was held for one seat in Nagaland as there was only one candidate.
According to recent data from the Election Commission, the turnout in both states was over 80 per cent with Meghalaya at 81.57 per cent and Nagaland at 85.90 per. Meanwhile, Tripura recorded nearly 87.6 per cent in the one-day assembly elections when it held the polls nearly two weeks ago. In Meghalaya, the polling took place across 3,419 stations and 2,291 in Nagaland.
Exit polls for Meghalaya assembly elections
The exit polls published by several agencies late Monday have led many to believe that the northeastern state will witness a hung assembly this year. This would not be the first time that has taken place in Meghalaya as in 2018 there was no single party or alliance which managed to secure a majority which led incumbent Chief Minister Conrad Sangma to form a coalition with United Democratic Party (UDP), BJP and others to form the state government. This time around Sangma’s NPP has stood in second place in most polls and after the exit polls, the current CM once again hinted that if they fall short of the majority the party will form an alliance.
Exit polls for Tripura assembly elections
Two of the three exit polls in Tripura show BJP and its ally IPFT will manage to secure the majority with the Left-Congress alliance quite behind on the estimates. Meanwhile, Times Now-ETG predicted that it might be a close race and that a hung assembly was a possibility.
Exit polls for Nagaland assembly elections
As the exit polls indicate, BJP and its ally NDPP are poised to secure a comfortable majority, the former contested for 20 seats while the latter sent candidates for the rest of the 40 seats, as a part of their coalition.
However, exit polls are not always accurate and are often vastly different from the actual outcome. The EC will announce the result of the elections on March 2. Notably, this round of assembly elections is deemed important as these are the first of back-to-back elections across the country in different states. This will also be followed by six other state elections in 2023 leading up to the general elections, next year.
