KOHIMA: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its partner Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) have crossed the majority mark by winning 34 seats so far in Nagaland as the counting of votes continues.
According to the trends shared by the Election Commission at 4:45 pm on Thursday, the BJP won 12 seats while NDPP won 22 seats and was leading in three seats. The Congress bagged five seats and was leading on two seats. The Republican Party of India (Athawale) got two seats in the Assembly elections.
The newbie Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), which contested at 15 Assembly constituencies this year, also managed to open its account by securing a win in one seat and was leading on another one. The Naga People’s Front has won one seat and was leading on another.
Nagaland Chief Minister and MDPP candidate Neiphiu Rio won the Northern Angami-II Assembly constituency, trouncing Seyievilie Sachu of the Congress by a mammoth margin of 15,824 votes. He bagged a total of 17,045 votes, which comes to 92.87 per cent of the total votes polled in the seat.
Nagaland BJP chief Temjen Imna Along on Thursday won from the Alongtaki constituency. The state BJP chief defeated Janata Dal (United) candidate J Lanu Longchar by a margin of 3,748 votes. He bagged a total of 9,274 votes with a vote share of 62.5 per cent.
The state also got its first woman MLA since it attained statehood 60 years ago, after Hekani Jakhalu, a candidate of the ruling NDPP, won the Dimapur-III Assembly constituency. She defeated Azheto Zhimomi of Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) by a margin of 1,536 votes. Jakhalu secured 14,395 votes, bagging 45.16 per cent of the total votes polled in the seat.
Independent candidates Neisatuo Mero and Kevipodi Sophie won the Pfutsero and Southern Angami-I seats, respectively.