NE Assembly Polls | Tripura votes on Feb 16, Meghalaya, Nagaland on Feb 27

Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar announcing the poll dates

The Election Commission of India (ECI) on January 18 announced the election schedule of Nagaland, Meghalaya, and Tripura assemblies, the first tranche of assembly elections to be held in 2023.

Tripura Assembly election 2023 will be held on February 16, while Nagaland and Meghalaya will go to polls on February 27. The election results of these states will be declared on March 2, said chief election commissioner Rajiv Kumar.

The notification for the polls in Tripura will be issued on January 21, whereas the notification for polls in Meghalaya and Nagaland will be issued on January 31.

Kumar said, “Polling dates have been fixed keeping in mind the exam season. Commission held a series of meeting with political parties and officials from the administration from January 11 to 15.”

He said that women's participation in the voting process has always been high in all these three states.

Sharing details of voters, CEC said, “There are 2.28 lakh voters who have been added in the three states. 97,000 voters are above the age of 80 and 31,700 voters are with physical disabilities. Voters above the age of 1oo are 2600.”

He also informed that there are more than 1.6 lakh voters, who are between the age group of 18-19 years.

“The commission has also taken applications form youngsters, who are 17 years old. Their applications will be processed in advance so that their names are included in the final voter list. 10,000 applications have been already received in three states,” said CEC Rajiv Kumar.

In three states – Tripura, Meghalaya, and Nagaland, the total voters are 62.8 lakh and the total polling stations are 9, 125.

“73 percent of the polling stations will be webcasted and arrangements have been made already by the respective states. 376 polling stations will be managed by women officers,” CEC said.

The commission will also deploy 64 expenditure observers in three states, besides 69 general observers and 33 police observers.

“Instructions have been given to enforcement agencies to curb the flow of cash. Banks have been also directed to keep a watch on accounts to stop the use of money in these polls,” said Kumar.

The term of the legislative Assemblies of Nagaland, Meghalaya, and Tripura is respectively coming to an end on March 12, March 15, and March 22.

Tripura has a 60-member legislative assembly and it is currently being ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led coalition.

The Bharatiya Janata Party has launched an aggressive campaign in the state to retain power for another term. Meanwhile, the Congress-Left is in talks to forge an alliance.

The battle in Meghalaya too is interesting with Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee holding rallies and meetings to form the government in the state. The state is being ruled by the National People’s Party and it’s the only party from the northeast to have national party recognition.

However, in Nagaland, the Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) is in power. The state has 59 seats reserved for scheduled tribes and one for general. Both BJP and NDPP have announced a pre-poll alliance, with the BJP set to contest 20 seats and the NDPP to contest on remaining 40.