NEDA finalizes seat sharing in Nagaland; BJP to fight alone in Meghalaya

Ahead of the assembly election in three northern states, Nagaland, Tripura and Meghalaya, the saffron party has finalized the seat-sharing agreement in Nagaland.

Speaking to the media, NEDA convenor and chief minister of Assam Himanta Biswa Sarma while speaking to media said, "We have already finalized the seat-sharing agreement with Nagaland's NDPP and have decided that BJP will fight in 20 seats and NDPP will fight in 40 seats."

Further speaking about the alliance in Meghalaya and Tripura the NEDA convenor said that there will be no seat sharing or alliance in Meghalaya and the saffron party is planning to go solo. On the other hand, in Tripura, TIPRA MOTHA is not under NEDA and there is a separate BJP group in the state for the alliance with other regional parties.

The Election Commission of India on January 18 announced the poll schedule for assembly elections in three North Eastern states of Tripura, Meghalaya and Nagaland.

Also Read: Nagaland: Building understanding with all political parties, open to post-poll alliance, says NPF

The dates were announced during a press conference held by ECI at Rang Bhawan auditorium, AIR, New Delhi. The conference was chaired by Chief Election Commissioner of India, Rajiv Kumar, and ECI Commissioners Anup Chandra Pandey and Arun Goel.

As per the announcement, polling for Tripura Elections 2023 will be held on February 16 while Meghalaya and Nagaland will be together for polls on February 27, 2023.

The counting of votes for Tripura will take place on March 2. Tripura's assembly session will end on March 22, 2023.

There are 80 members in the Tripura Legislative Assembly. In 2018, the BJP-Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura (IPFT) alliance won a sweeping majority in the 60-member Tripura Assembly, ending the Left's 25-year hold on the state.

The BJP won 35 of the 60 seats available, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) got 16, the IPFT got 8, and the Congress lost with no seats.

There will be 3,328 polling stations across the state of Tripura.