BJP announces candidates for Nagaland polls, set to contest all seats in Meghalaya
1 min read . Updated: 02 Feb 2023, 04:52 PM IST
PremiumBoth states will hold Assembly elections at the end of February, with votes being counted on March 2.
The BJP has announced the names of 20 candidates for the upcoming Assembly elections in Nagaland. While the saffron party plans to fight the polls in alliance with the state's ruling Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party, it will contest all seats in neighbouring Meghalaya.
“We will contest on 20 out of 60 seats in Nagaland. Rest of the seats have been given to our alliance partner NDPP. We'll contest on all 60 seats in Meghalaya. Our tagline is 'M Power Meghalaya' means Modi-powered Meghalaya and a double-engine government will be formed there," party leaders asserted today.
Both states will hold Assembly elections at the end of February, with votes being counted on March 2. Another northeastern state - Tripura - is slated to hold polls thill month on February 17. The BJP has fielded 55 candidates and struck an allaince with its former ally Indigenous People's Front of Tripura.
Earlier on Wednesday, the Central Election Committee of the BJP had held a meeting to discuss the upcoming elections. The meeting was led by party chief JP Nadda, with PM Narendra Modi also in attendance. Following this, Nagaland BJP chief Temjen Imna Along and Meghalaya's Ernest Mawrie named party candidates approved by the party CEC.
While the BJP is part of the current Meghalaya government-led by Chief Minister Conrad Sangma, ties between the two parties have been strained for quite some time. The BJP had contested 47 seats in the 2018 assembly polls and won two.
Voicing confidence about the party's odds, northeast co-incharge Rituraj Sinha noted today that PM Modi had visited the northeast region over 50 times during his term and brought numerous developmental packages to the region.
(With inputs from agencies)
