Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist party and its allies retained power in elections in three northeastern states on Thursday by securing a comfortable majority in the strategic border region. The poll results showed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) winning in Nagaland, Meghalaya and Tripura, allowing it to either form a government independently or continue alliances with regional political parties to stay in power.
“If we win the election, it means we will win the trust of the people,” said Kiren Rijiju, a federal minister in Modi’s government, after the results began to trickle in showing the BJP ahead. In Tripura, the BJP was set to form the government for a second term. In Nagaland, the party managed to retain power in alliance with the regional Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP).
In Meghalaya, the regional National People’s Party (NPP) is set to form the government for a second term with the support of the BJP, party officials said in Delhi.
These three resource-rich states are among the least developed parts of the country and share borders with Bangladesh, Bhutan, China and Myanmar. But Modi’s government has pumped millions of dollars into remote regions in recent years to build roads, railways and other infrastructure as part of a broader effort to mainstream their economies and boost security there.
The BJP faces further popularity tests this year as six more states go to polls ahead of the 2024 national elections.
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