While Conrad Sangma’s NPP could somehow manage to retain power in Meghalaya, the results in Nagaland were emphatic in favour of the ruling NDPP-BJP alliance. The BJP retains power in Tripura. Sangma would require the backing of one or other party to run a stable government for his second term. This being the outcome of the three-state assembly polls in the North-East, what is obvious is that there is a deficit in the people’s backing for Sangma though a part of his failure to gain a majority of seats in the assembly is understandable. The former NPP ally, the BJP, fielded candidates in all 59 seats and the new political entity, the TMC, showed its limited mass support by winning some votes which would otherwise have gone to the Congress. Should Sangma require legislative support, he could bank on the BJP that has by now understood its limitations in Meghalaya and should reconcile to the situation and back the NPP. This should help Meghalaya get what’s due to it from the Modi government at the Centre.
The BJP proves a point by retaining power in Tripura despite the serious odds it faced this time. The emergence of the new regional outfit seeking a separate state within Tripura, the TIPRA MOTHA, had changed the political equations to an extent yet again in what was once a bastion of the left. Overall, the BJP has reasons to cheer as it would continue to share power in Nagaland as well. Yet, the three-state elections showed the saffron party has its limitations in the North-East as far as mass support is concerned. Its supremacy in Tripura for the past five years however continued. A change of chief minister in Tripura too helped the BJP to consolidate its vote bank. as the results proved. A consolidation of the non-tribal votes in the Bengali dominated areas was what the BJP attempted at in view of the strong offensive it faced from TIPRA. However, it would appear that the Bengali vote was divided between the Left and the BJP.
Clearly, the Congress party has yet again lost the plot. The party that once reigned supreme in the north-eastern states and gave a tough fight to the regional parties has proven it has little chance of regaining power. Its irrelevance is loud and clear. This has largely to do with its loss of power in Delhi, the national capital; meaning it also lost its strength to manipulate situations to its advantage. In sum, all three states were not in a mood to vote out the ruling parties.