Nagaland Election Results: Clear Win for NDPP-BJP, Neiphu Rio Set For Fifth Term

The real churn has been in the Opposition space with the NPF falling to just two seats.

59 of the 60 seats in the Nagaland assembly were up for polls. 

(Photo: The Quint)

Video Producer: Mayank Chawla 

Video Editor: Rajbir Singh 

In Nagaland, the BJP and its ally NDPP (Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party) have surged towards a comfortable victory, winning 37 seats in the 60-member assembly. This is on expected lines as the exit polls too had predicted a clear win for the alliance in the state. The NDPP has won 25 seats whereas the BJP won 12.

The bigger surprises were in the Opposition space with the Naga Peoples' Front (NPF) winning just two seats (down from 26 in 2018) and the Congress failing to open its account.

Sharad Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party emerged as the top scorer in the Opposition. At the time of writing the story, the NCP had won six seats and was leading in one. It is likely to get the Leader of Opposition's position. The other national party to make its presence felt was the National People's Party with five seats.

Smaller parties with their base in other parts of India managed to win a few seats - Ramdas Athavale's RPI and Late Ram Vilas Paswan's LJP won two seats each while Nitish Kumar's JD-U won one.

Changing Equations

In 2018, the BJP and then ruling NPF had dissolved their electoral alliance just prior to the assembly election. Instead, the BJP formed an alliance with the NDPP, which together formed the government. The NDPP-BJP alliance had won 30 seats in the 2018 elections while NPF had won 26. As per the seat arrangement this time around, the BJP, which is the junior partner in the coalition contested 20 seats, while ally NDPP fought in 40.

The Congress, which had ruled the state till 2003 does not have any members in the House. The party failed to open its account this time as well.

The state had gone to the polls on 27 February. A massive voter turnout of 85 percent was recorded in the election.

In Nagaland, 59 out of 60 Assembly seats were up for grabs, where the fate of 183 candidates was in the balance across 2,351 polling stations. One seat, Akuluto, has been won uncontested by BJP nominee Kazheto Kinimi.

Neiphu Rio to be CM for the Fifth Time

NDPP leader and outgoing chief minister Neiphu Rio is likely to take the top position for the fifth time in his career. He has had four stints as CM before this: 2003 to 2008, 2008 to 2013, 2013 to 2014, and 2018 to 2023.

All his earlier terms were as part of the NPF except 2018-23, which was after he split from the NPF to form the NDPP.

Rio is known to share a very good relationship with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The real challenge for the NDPP-BJP government will now begin, as they would now have to take forward the Naga peace process.