Left Front, NSCN (I-M) spoil the party in N-E

Good news kept flowing for the Congress from the North-East as well today, with the party emerging as the largest party in both Meghalaya an...

Good news kept flowing for the Congress from the North-East as well today, with the party emerging as the largest party in both Meghalaya and Nagaland. However, Tripura again voted in the Left Front, giving it an absolute majority of 40 seats in a House of 60 and ensuring that its decade-long rule in the state will continue.

In Meghalaya, the Congress looks sure to cobble support from smaller groups to form the next government, but a clear picture remains to emerge in Nagaland where the recently signed peace pact between the Government and the NSCN (I-M) is believed to have played a major role in the results and helped the Opposition against the Congress.

In Tripura, the victorious Left Front said its stand that the Congress had joined hands with anti-national forces like the Indigenous Nationalist Party of Tripura (INPT) had been vindicated. The CPI(M), the main partner of the Left Front, alone got 37 seats, while its allies, the RSP and CPI, contributed the rest.

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Several senior Congress leaders bit the dust. They include former chief minister Sudhir Ranjan Mazumdar and leader of the opposition Jawahar Saha. Bijoy Kumar Hrangkhawl, president of the INPT, managed to retain his seat. In all, the Congress-INPT got 19 seats.

The Congress had bagged 18 of the 46 seats for which results were announced till evening in Nagaland, with the Opposition Democratic Alliance of Nagaland (DAN) bagging 23. The Opposition had used the NSCN talks card against the Congress and its outgoing CM, S.C. Jamir. The BJP also made its debut in the predominantly Christian state, winning five seats.

Among prominent losers were Speaker Zohevo Lohe (Congress), who lost to D. Nukhu of the Samajwadi Party by 821 votes in Chizami, and Deputy Speaker Joshua Sumi (Congress), who lost to Huska Sumi of the JD(U) at Pughoboto.

In Meghalaya, where the Congress won 22 of the 60 seats, with the NCP winning 14, two former chief ministers lost. They are S.C. Marak and E.K. Mawlong. Outgoing CM F.A. Khonglam however managed to scrape through.

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NCP chief Purno A. Sangma had reason to smile. Thirteen of the party’s 14 seats came from his pocketborough Garo hills, with the Congress getting just five seats here.

(with Tilak Rai in Shillong)

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