Meghalaya, Tripura poll results today

In Meghalaya, however, the Congress has kept its options open for a tie-up with former Lok Sabha speaker Purno Sangma’s NCP in order to form the government. While Chief Minister D D Lapang of the Congress said he is scouting for an alliance partner in the event of falling just short of forming a Government on his own, Sangma claimed he had received feelers from the Congress.

The Congress had won only 22 seats in the 2003 elections to the 60-member Meghalaya Assembly, but tied up with smaller regional parties to form a Government. The alliance, however, had to change its chief minister thrice in five years, all of whom incidentally belonged to the Congress.

In Tripura, on the other hand, the Left, whose tally had come down from 49 in 1993 to 41 in 1998 and 2003, is hopeful that it would still win even if the number of seats it wins came down further. The Congress-INPT alliance had last time won only 19 seats.

For the Congress, getting 20 seats on its own would in itself be an achievement, though some party leaders think the tally might increase to 25 seats. Even then it would be not possible for the Congress, as there are no smaller parties to form an alliance with in Tripura, barring the Left Front.