New Delhi: Nagaland’s political stalwart and its longest-serving chief minister Neiphiu Rio is set to assume office as the chief minister for the fifth consecutive term after a convincing victory for his party and its ally, the BJP. Together the two parties have won 37 seats in the 60-member Nagaland Assembly. NDPP-BJP alliance is in the process of forming the government in Nagaland. NDPP has won 25 seats and BJP has won 12 seats, giving them a combined tally of 37 seats.
Hekani Jakhlu became the first woman legislator in Nagaland after winning by a margin of 1536 votes representing the Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party in Dimapur-III constituency, NDPP’s second woman candidate Salhoutuonuo Kruse won the West Angami seat by just seven votes . She will join Hekani Jakhlu as an MLA in the 14th Nagaland Legislative Assembly, which will be the first assembly in the state to have women legislators.
In the battle for 60 seats, exit polls have projected the BJP comfortably crossing the majority mark by winning 42 seats with its alliance partner, the National Democratic Progressive Party. Looking at the state of the opposition in Nagaland, the ruling coalition was well ahead of the race, and exit polls seem to be on the same lines, giving just 1 seat to the Congress and 6 seats to the NPF (formerly a strong force). As the votes are counted, there are constituencies that need to be monitored: Phek, which is considered an NPF stronghold; Atoiju, from where BJP’s lone woman candidate Kahuli Sema is contesting; and Dimapur III.
Nagaland now has two women legislators, with Salhoutuonuo Kruse of the NDPP winning from the West Angami constituency. For Krause, 56, this election was her first foray into electoral politics. However, she has long been an active part of civil society organizations, having served as president and later advisor to the Angami Mahila Sangathan. Her late husband Kvisekho Kruse was the NDPP candidate from the West Agami seat in 2018. At that time, he was defeated by Kenizhakho Nakhro of the NPF.
With the BJP-Nationalist Democratic People’s Party (NDPP) alliance in a position to form the next government in Nagaland, its chief ministerial candidate Neiphiu Rio will continue to have unbroken dominance over state politics. The alliance won 37 seats in the 60-member assembly, with the BJP getting 12 and the NDPP 25. Rio’s victory – with a 92.87 percent vote share – from his bastion Northern Angami-II was the most spectacular of them all.
On Thursday, Hekani Jakhlu of the Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) became the first woman to be elected to the Nagaland Legislative Assembly. Although the state has had 13 state assemblies so far, not a single woman has been elected as a legislator till date. As the counting of votes got underway in the state on Thursday afternoon, Jakhlu was the sixth person to be officially declared the winner by the Election Commission of India. He received 45.16 percent of the 31,874 votes cast in the constituency, just ahead of Lok Janshakti Party’s (Ram Vilas Paswan) Azeto Zhimomi, who got 40.34 percent. The match was close-knit and numbers were being seen continuously between the two.
With seven of its candidates emerging victorious in the Assembly elections on Thursday, the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party has become the single largest opposition party in Nagaland and is set to get the post of Leader of the Opposition in the House.
NCP general secretary for Northeast Narendra Verma said at a time when the Congress could not win a single seat in Nagaland, his party winning the maximum number of seats in the opposition camp was a great achievement. “We contested on 12 seats. While we won seven seats, we lost five seats by very narrow margins,” he said.
Another party from Maharashtra, Union Minister of State Ramdas Athawale’s Republican Party of India (Athawale) has won two seats in Nagaland. RPI’s Vinod Nikalje was given the responsibility of handling the Northeast activities of the party. The party contested on eight seats. While it won two seats, its candidates came second in four constituencies.
The NDPP won 25 seats and the BJP 12, putting the only pre-poll alliance in the state in a position to comfortably form the next government. It also marks an improvement in the performance of the alliance since the last election, when the two parties jointly won 29 constituencies. The performance of the Naga People’s Front (NPF) was worse than most observers had expected. The party which led the state government for 15 years and won the maximum number of seats in an assembly election, managed to bag only two seats this time. The victory of both the women candidates of NDPP has created history in the state and Nagaland will get its first women legislators in the form of Hekani Jakhlu and Salhoutuonuo Kruse.
NDPP-BJP alliance is going to form the government in Nagaland. NDPP has won 25 seats and BJP has won 12 seats, giving them a combined tally of 37 seats.
Nagaland’s political stalwart and its longest-serving Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio is set to assume office as Chief Minister for the fifth consecutive term after a convincing victory for his party and its ally, the BJP.
Nagaland elected two women legislators for the first time in its history. Hekani Jakhlu became Nagaland’s first woman legislator after winning by a margin of 1536 votes representing Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party in Dimapur-III constituency, NDPP’s second woman candidate Salhoutuonuo Kruse won West Angami seat by just seven votes .
Deputy Chief Minister Y. Patton, representing the BJP, won his seat from the Tui constituency by defeating Y.Kikon of the Rashtriya Janata Dal.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi thanked voters in Tripura, and said the ‘double engine government will continue to work for the state’s progress’.
That’s it for today! Follow our live blog on election results in neighboring Meghalaya and Tripura, and get an overview of results from all three states.
With the BJP-Nationalist Democratic People’s Party (NDPP) alliance in a position to form the next government in Nagaland, its chief ministerial candidate Neiphiu Rio will continue to have unbroken dominance over state politics.
The alliance won 37 seats in the 60-member assembly, with the BJP getting 12 and the NDPP 25. Rio’s victory – with a 92.87 percent vote share – from his bastion Northern Angami-II was the most spectacular of them all.
