BJP loses 2 Manipur seats; northeast tally down

BJP suffered a reversal in northeast, with the party losing two seats in Manipur. Its allies lost in Meghalaya and Nagaland. BJP, along with its allies, had targeted to win 12 seats in Assam and around 23 of the 25 seats across the eight states of the region. However, NDA won only 16 seats this time with BJP winning 13 and its allies three. The Congress tally in Assam remained at three.

In Assam, Kripnath Mallah of BJP won from Karimganj, defeating Hafiz Rashid Ahmed Choudhury of Congress. Congress’ Gaurav Gogoi, who changed his constituency after the delimitation exercise, won from Jorhat.

His earlier constituency, Koliabor, ceased to exist, and a new constituency was created — Kaziranga — following the delimitation of constituencies. BJP’s ally AGP won the Barpeta seat. In Manipur, seized by ethnic strife for over a year, BJP and its ally Naga People’s Front (NPF) suffered a crushing defeat. In the tribal-dominated seat of Outer Manipur, NPF candidate K Timothy Zimik was trounced by Alfred Kanngam S Arthur of Congress. In Meitei-dominated valley seat of Inner Manipur, JNU professor Angomcha Bimol Akoijam defeated BJP candidate Thounaojam Basantakumar Singh, who is a minister in the state government.