The Hindu : National : Congress, CPI(M) bag 13 seats in northeast

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Friday, May 14, 2004

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National

Congress, CPI(M) bag 13 seats in northeast

By Sushanta Talukdar

GUWAHATI, MAY 13. The Congress and the CPI(M) bagged 13 seats while the Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies won eight seats amid a comeback by a resurgent Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) as results of 23 out of the 24 Lok Sabha seats in the seven northeastern States — Assam, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura and Nagaland — were declared today. Counting in one constituency of the region — Outer Manipur — will be taken up on May 19.

In Assam, the ruling Congress wrested the prestigious Guwahati Lok Sabha seat from the BJP as Bhupen Hazarika, Dada Saheb Phalke award winning singer, lost to Kirip Chaliha who won by a margin of about 61,000 votes. The Congress' strength, however, was reduced to nine from the 10 seats it won in the 1999 Lok Sabha elections. Of the 14 Lok Sabha seats, the Congress emerged victorious in nine, the AGP and the BJP won two each.

The AGP, which drew a blank in 1999, wrested Dibrugarh and Lakhimpur from the ruling Congress. In Kokrajhar, the sitting MP and independent candidate, Sansuma Khunggur Bwismuthiary, supported by the BJP and the All-Bodo Students Union, won by the highest margin of 48,4183 votes.

The Congress suffered the worst reverse in Dibrugarh, considered to be its citadel, as the sitting MP and PCC chief, Paban Singh Ghatowar, finished a poor third by polling only 1,61,780 votes against 2,08,571 votes polled by the AGP `s Sarbananda Sonowal and 1,84,325 votes of the BJP candidate, Kamakhya Prasad Tasha. In Lakhimpur, Arun Sharma (AGP) defeated the sitting Congress MP, Ranee Narah, by 14,840 votes.

The BJP, however, managed to maintain its tally of two seats in Assam despite losing Guwahati seat as it wrested the Mangaldoi seat from the Congress when its candidate Narayan Barkatoki defeated the sitting Congress MP, Madhab Rajbangshi, by 28,916 votes. The other seat won by the BJP in Assam is Nagaon where former State BJP president and sitting MP Rajen Gohain defeated his nearest Congress rival, Bishnu Prasad, by 31,350 votes.

In Tezpur constituency, the sitting Congress MP, Mani Kumar Subba, defeated his nearest AGP rival Padma Hazarika by 70,445 votes while in the Autonomus (Diphu) constituency Biren Singh Ingti (Congress) defeated Elwin Teron (Autonomous State Demand Committee) by 26,449 votes.

The ruling Congress won both the seats in Barak Valley in Assam. While the sitting Congress MP, Santosh Mohan Dev, won the Silchar seat defeating his nearest BJP rival, Kabindra Purakayastha, by over 25,000 votes.

In the Karimganj constituency, Lalit Mohan Suklabaidya (Congress) defeated Parimal Suklabaidya (BJP) by 92,404 votes.

In Tripura, the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist) made a clean sweep winning East Tripura and West Tripura with an overwhelming margin. In Tripura West, the sitting CPI(M) MP, Khagen Das, defeated Nirmalya Dasgupta (Congress) by over 38,4636 votes while in Tripura East, the sitting CPI(M) MP, Bajuban Riang, defeated Jadu Mohan Tripura (BJP) by over three lakh votes.

In Meghalaya, the former Lok Sabha Speaker, P.A. Sangma, defeated the State Public Works Department Minister, Mukul Sangma, (Congress) by 72,763 votes. Mr. Sangma, who contested as a candidate of the Nationalist Trinamool Congress, secured 1,91,938 votes against the 1,19,175 votes polled by the Congress candidate. However, in Shillong constituency, the sitting Congress MP, P.R. Kyndiah, retained his seat.

In Arunachal Pradesh, where the polling took place amid a boycott call by the All-Arunchal Pradesh Students Union over granting of voting right to Chakma and Hajong refugees, the ruling BJP wrested both the Lok Sabha seats from the Congress.

In Nagaland, the ruling NPF, an ally of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance, won the lone Lok Sabha seat with its candidate, W. Konyak, defeating K. Asungba Sangtam, Congress candidate and sitting MP.

In Mizoram also, the ruling Mizo National Front (MNF), an ally of the NDA, won the solitary Lok Sabha seat and the by-election to the Kolasib Assembly constituency. The MNF candidate, Vanlalzawma, defeated the Mizoram Secular Force candidate, Laltluangliana Khiangte. In the by-election the MNF's candidate, K. Lalrinliana, won.

The Congress managed to wrest the Inner Manipur seat from the BJP.

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