Congress enters Tripura, Bengal assembly in an otherwise lackluster show | Latest News India - Hindustan Times
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Congress enters Tripura, Bengal assembly in an otherwise lackluster show

Mar 02, 2023 07:44 PM IST

The Congress, wiped out in Tripura in 2018 polls, returned to the assembly after 5 years with three seats and got its first seat in West Bengal after it drew a blank in 2021 election

Three seats in Tripura assembly polls and a seat in West Bengal by-poll remained a consolation prize in an otherwise lacklustre performance of the Congress party in these assembly polls.

The Congress won 5 seats in Meghalaya—a loss of 16 seats—and drew a blank in Nagaland, as it did in 2018. (HT PHOTO)
The Congress won 5 seats in Meghalaya—a loss of 16 seats—and drew a blank in Nagaland, as it did in 2018. (HT PHOTO)

The Congress, wiped out in Tripura in 2018 polls, returned to the assembly after 5 years with three seats. Similarly, the Bengal by-poll gave the non-BJP, non-TMC Opposition its first seat after the Left-Congress combine drew a blank in 2021 election. The party won 5 seats in Meghalaya—a loss of 16 seats—and drew a blank in Nagaland, as it did in 2018.

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The results indicate that the Congress remains far from recovering its lost ground in the North East. In Meghalaya, the last Congress CM (Mukul Sangma) was in power till March 2018. In Nagaland, the Congress regime ended in May 2014 and in Tripura the Congress has been out of power for 30 years.

As the North East slipped out of the hand of the Congress, party insiders maintained that the absence of strong regional leaders and Himanta Biswa Sharma joining the BJP has made it difficult for the party. Assam chief minister Sharma has emerged as a force for the BJP’s expansion in the north eastern region, taking up a larger political role that benefits the party.

Since the Narendra Modi government came to power in 2014, the Congress lost 41 assembly elections in 9 years. It also lost government in three states—Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra—and in the Union territory of Puducherry due to internal dissent in the party or among its ally.

The party’s poor performance in the North East also puts a question mark on the party’s prospects in the region for the upcoming Lok Sabha election. The seven states of NE India have a total of 23 Lok Sabah seats.

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