India News Online » News Analysis » Indian Politics » 

Mixed luck for Congress in North East Assembly elections

	March 10, 2008

In the Assembly elections in three north-eastern states of Tripura, Meghalaya and Nagaland, the Congress has had a mixed luck. It has been badly mauled by the CPI(M)-led Left Front in Tripura, where the party was hoping to gain at the cost of the communist parties. But in Meghalaya, the Congress has emerged stronger though it has not been able to get a clear majority.



Beating anti-incumbency, the Left Front was returned to power in Tripura for the fourth consecutive term on Friday, March 7, when the counting took place. Against 41 seats in the outgo¬ing Assembly, the Left Front was able to secure 49 seats in the 60-member Assembly.



In Meghalaya, the Congress emerged as the single largest party with 25 seats in the 60-member Assembly. Former Lok Sabha Speaker P.A. Sangma’s Nationalist Congress Party, which was hoping to seize power in the state, could secure only 15 seats. Other seats in the House went to local parties and Independents.



Observers say that there had been 18 elections in different states after the UPA came to power at the Centre in May 2004.



Barring Haryana, Goa, Pondicherry, Manipur and Assam, the Congress has not been able to ensure the number one position. The party was either defeated or decimated in the elections to Bihar, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Uttrakhand and West Bengal. The Congress spokesman said the verdict will have no impact on the Centre as it was fought on local issues.



Observers say the electoral outcome cannot, but be discom¬forting for the Congress as party president Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh were chief campaigners for the party in an attempt to end the Left Front rule in Tripura. The party had entered into an alliance with the Indigenous National¬ist Party of Tripura. This had invited the charge of the Con¬gress aligning with extremists from the CPI(M).



The results which rejected the Congress claim that it was on a rollback, were promptly interpreted by the CPI(M) as a verdict against the UPA economic policies. CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat said the election results amounted to rejection of the policy paradigm of the Centre.



Although the elections in Meghalaya produced a fractured mandate, the Congress which emerged as the largest party with 25 seats, is expected to return to power with the help of regional parties. Overcoming anti-incumbency and allegations of corrup¬tion, the Congress managed to add three seats to its previous tally of 22.



The outcome in Meghalaya is a big setback for NCP leader P.A. Sangma as the party under his charge was not able to chal¬lenge the dominance of the Congress.



According to reports, both the Congress and the NCP-led Meghalaya Progressive Alliance (MPA) are staking claims to form the next coalition government.



Leaders and legislators belonging to the NCP and the region¬al parties - United Democratic Party (UDP), Hill State People’s Democratic Party (HSPDP), Khun Hynniewtrep National Awakening Movement (KHNAM), BJP and two independents, who constitute the MPA, unanimously elected the former Deputy Chief Minister, UDP leader Donkupar Roy, leader of the coalition.



Later Dr. Roy along with leaders of the new alliance went to the Raj Bhavan and staked claim to form the government. They also submitted a list of 31 legislators to Governor S.S. Sidhu.



Chief Minister D.D. Lapang also went to the Raj Bhavan to stake his claim for formation of a new Congress-led coalition government after he was unanimously chosen Leader of the Congress Legislature Party.



In Tripura, Manik Sarkar is poised to set a new record in the political history of the State after he was re-elected Leader of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) Legislature Party. He will hold the office of Chief Minister for the third consecutive term. The CPI(M)-led LF government will assume office on Monday.



In Nagaland, the Congress failed to improve its position. The Nagaland People’s Front (NPF)-led Democratic Alliance of Nagaland (DAN) emerged the front runner to stake claim for power for the second term. The DAN constituents together secured 29 of the 57 seats, the results of which have been declared, and the alliance claimed to have the support of the independents to form the coalition government.



The Congress bagged 22 seats. The results in three consti¬tuencies, known to be NPF strongholds, are still awaited.



The NPF has improved its tally from 19 in 2003 to 25. The Congress increased its tally by only one seat from the 21 it won in the last polls. The BJP’s account stood reduced to just two seats from seven it last time.



The NPF, led by the former Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio, won 25 seats. The Bharatiya Janata Party and the Nationalist Congress Party got two each, while the independents won six. The NPF had forged a pre-poll alliance with the NCP, the BJP and the Janata Dal (United) to defeat the Congress but these parties contested on independent manifestos.



Rio told reporters in Kohima: “We would have got more seats had the UPA government not illegally dismissed our government.”

Rio was re-elected from the Northern Angami constituency by a huge margin of 10,761 votes for the fifth term, while Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader I. Imkong was re-elected with a margin of 3,926 votes from Jangpetkong. The former Congress Chief Minister, K.L. Chisi, won from Dimapur-I by a margin of 2,311 votes.