With seven MLAs, NCP set to become main Opposition party in Nagaland

An NCP leader says the party’s winning the highest number of seats in the Opposition camp is a big achievement when the Congress hasn't won even one seat in the Northeast state.

Written by Alok Deshpande

March 2, 2023 10:06 PM IST

3 min read

People wait in queues to cast their votes in Nagaland's Wokha district. (PTI File)

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With seven of its candidates emerging victorious in the Assembly elections on Thursday, the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party has become the biggest Opposition party in Nagaland and is set to get the leader of Opposition post in the House.

“This is the result of our hard work in northeast India over the past 10 years. I had travelled across Nagaland for the past four months and especially concentrated on the state’s eastern parts. The people of Nagaland have entrusted us with their votes and we will be holding a meeting of our legislative party within two days to decide on the leader of the Opposition,” said Narendra Verma, the NCP general secretary for the Northeast.

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Verma said that at a time when the Congress could not win even one seat in Nagaland, his party’s winning the highest number of seats in the Opposition camp was a big achievement. “We contested 12 seats. While we won seven, we lost five seats by a very thin margin,” he said.

Another Maharashtra-based party, Union minister of state Ramdas Athawale’s Republican Party of India (Athawale), has won two seats in Nagaland. The RPI’s Vinod Nikalje was given the responsibility to handle the party’s Northeast activities. The party contested eight seats. While it won two seats, its candidates came in second spot in four constituencies.

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Pawar was joined by the late P A Sangma when he left the Congress to form the NCP. Sangma had handled the party’s matters in the Northeast till 2013, when he formed the National People’s Party (NPP). His influence across the region had earned votes for the party, helping the NCP attain national party status.

Additionally, Pawar being the Union Agriculture minister and his deputy Praful Patel being Union minister for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises resulted in the party gaining some foothold in Nagaland. Pawar’s close friend and present Lok Sabha MP Shrinivas Patil was a Governor of Sikkim from 2013 to 2018.

The NCP scored majority of its victories in the eastern parts of Nagaland.

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