Agartala/Kohima/Shillong: The stage is set for counting of votes in Tripura, Meghalaya and Nagaland where the well-entrenched ruling dispensations are facing a tough challenge to retain power.
Counting starts at 8am in all the three northeastern states on Saturday amid tight security given the tense build-up to the polls, exit poll predictions and insiders' accounts that the fight was too tough to call in the high-stakes polls, the outcome of which will have an impact on the national political landscape.
The BJP, the rise and rise of which in the Northeast since it came to power at the Centre in 2014, is a key player in the three states, alone or in alliance with regional parties. Since 2016, it has wrested Congress-ruled Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur.
Tripura went to the polls on February 18 while Christian-dominated Nagaland and Meghalaya had elections on February 27. All the states have a 60-member Assembly and a party or alliance will have to cross the magical mark of 30 to form the government. However, polls were held in only 59 seats in all the states owing to killing of an NCP candidate in Meghlaya, death of a Left candidate in Tripura and the winning of NDPP candidate (Neiphiu Rio) in Nagaland.
In Tripura, the Left Front has been in power for the past 35 years sans a five-year gap from 1988 to 1993 when a Congress-led coalition ruled the state. It is up against the BJP, which has tied up with the IPFT, a regional party floated in late 1990s with the demand of "Twipraland", a separate state for indigenous communities.
All eyes will also be on incumbent chief minister Manik Sarkar, who first became chief minister in 1998 and was the sole star campaigner for the Left against the BJP, which had unleashed all its top guns, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party president Amit Shah.
CPM state secretary Bijan Dhar exuded confidence saying he was sure that the Left alliance would retain power. BJP's Tripura in-charge Sunil Deodhar was equally confident, asserting they would win no less than 40 seats.
The contest was tight in Meghalaya also, where the ruling Congress has faced a tough fight from the NPP and BJP, both fighting separately, like in Nagaland despite being allies in Manipur.
The BJP had drawn a blank in 2013 and NPP two while the Congress had won 29. This time, the Congress contested in 60 seats, BJP 47 and NPP 52 before election was countermanded in Williamnagar.
Congress leader and chief minister Mukul Sangma, who contested from Ampati and Songsak, exuded confidence, saying, "The Congress will win with a comfortable majority and lead the government."
NPP state president Wanwei Roy Kharlukhi said his party is expecting 19 to 23 seats while BJP state president Shibun Lyngdoh said the party expected between eight and 12 seats.
Nagaland, which saw violence on polling day, witnessed a direct fight in most seats between the ruling Naga People's Front (NPF), in power since 2003, and the newly founded Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP)-BJP combine.
From a fringe player, having won only a seat in the 2013 polls with 1.8 per cent vote share to NPF's 38 seats and 47 per cent vote share, the BJP contested in 20 seats and the NDPP in 40, of which it has already won one.
That the fight was close also became evident when the ruling NPF on Friday afternoon released the pre-poll agreement it had entered into with the NPP and JDU so that these are taken into consideration during the formation of the next government.