Counting of votes for Lok Sabha polls begins, 25 seats up for grabs in 8 Northeastern states

Counting of votes for 25 Lok Sabha seats in the eight north-eastern states – Assam, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Tripura, Manipur, Nagaland, and Mizoram – began on Tuesday with a massive security cover in place. Assam has the most number of Lok Sabha seats in the region.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) looks to maintain their grip in Assam, which has 14 seats up for grabs. The Manipur, Tripura, Meghalaya and Arunachal, have two parliamentary seats each. Meanwhile, Mizoram, Nagaland and Sikkim will see a contest play out for their lone Lok Sabha seats.

Assam

The 14 seats in Assam that took part in the first three rounds of the Lok Sabha elections 2024 achieved a record high voter turnout of 81.56%.

The following constituencies—Kaziranga, Sonitpur, Lakhimpur, Dibrugarh, Darrang-Udalguri, Diphu, Karimganj, Silchar, Dhubri, Kokrajhar, Barpeta, and Guwahati—are waiting to hear their final results on June 4.

Speaking of key candidates, they are Sarbananda Sonowal, Gaurav Gogoi, Topon Gogoi and Bijuli Kalita Medhi among others.

Manipur

Manipur has only two seats in the Lok Sabha but the result of the 2024 election in the state will be watched closely across India due to the prolonged violence between ethnic groups that caught the country’s attention and put the Bharatiya Janata Party, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on the defensive.

Over 80% voter turnout in Inner Manipur and nearly 69% turnout in Outer Manipur signal that the people are ready to engage in the democratic process and cast their decision on who should represent the state in the Parliament.

The key candidates in Inner Manipur are Thounaojam Basanta Kumar Singh (BJP) and Angomcha Bimol Akoijam (Congress).

In Outer Manipur, Congress has fielded Alfred Kanngam Arthur whose most-significant rival will be Kachui Timothy Zimik of the Naga People’s Front (NPF), a BJP ally.

The BJP had won the Inner Manipur seat in 2019 and its ally NPF had secured the Outer Manipur constituency. In 2014, Congress had won both the seats.

Arunachal Pradesh

Arunachal East constituency’ has incumbent MP, Tapir Gao, of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) facing Congress candidate Bosiram Siram, and Bandey Mili of the Arunachal Democratic Party.

While Minister of Earth Sciences Kiren Rijiju and the incumbent MP of Arunachal West will expect to retain the seat. In the polling held in the first phase on April 19, the state saw a voter turnout of 77.68%.

The state also witnessed the BJP’s massive win by bagging 46 seats out of 60 in the assembly elections, for which votes were cast alongside Lok Sabha elections on April 19, 2024.

Meghalaya

In Meghalaya, the National People’s Party (NPP) contested the elections from both the seats—Shillong and Tura—with the support of the BJP.

In the 2019 general elections, while Congress’ Vincent H Pala won the Shillong seat, Agatha K Sangma of the NPP bagged the Tura seat.

Both candidates were in the fray in the 2024 general elections.

Tripura

In the 2019 general elections, the BJP won both seats—Tripura East and Tripura West.

However, the party nominated other candidates for the 2024 polls.

Biplab Kumar Deb contested the election from Tripura West, while Kirti Devi Debbarman contested from Tripura East.

In the state, Congress has fielded a candidate, Asish Kumar Saha, from Tripura West alone.

Nagaland

The state registered a voter turnout of 57.72% in the first phase of the Lok Sabha election, held on April 19.

For the lone seat, the Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP), a BJP ally, is contesting the election to retain its seat against Congress and an independent candidate.

In the 2019 election, NDPP’s Tokheho Yepthomi won by a margin of 16,344 votes.

Mizoram

For the only parliamentary seat in the state, five parties—the BJP, Congress, Mizo National Front, Zoram People’s Movement, Mizoram People’s Conference, and an independent candidate—are in the race.

In 2019, the Mizo National Front candidate won the election by a thin margin of 8,140 votes.

Sikkim

Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM) attained a rampaging win by winning 31 seats out of 32 in the Assembly elections held on April 19, along with the Lok Sabha election.

In the Lok Sabha election, candidates from six parties—SKM, BJP, Citizen Action Party-Sikkim, Sikkim Republican Party, Sikkim Democratic Front, Congress and eight independent candidates—are in the fray.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha election in the state, SKM’s Indra Hang Subba won by a margin of 12,433 votes.