Exit Poll : BJP may get 18 in NE

New Delhi, May 20 : The Bharatiya Janata Party has arrived in the North East. The exit poll results for eight North Eastern States predicts victory for BJP in 18 out of 25 Lok Sabha seats in Election 2019.
According to the India Today-Axis My India Exit Poll, the BJP is likely to win 12 to 14 seats in Assam, despite the violence and controversy over the National Citizenship Registry and the anti-incumbency factor. The party is also likely to sweep Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Tripura - holding two seats each in the Lower House.
Congress is likely to maintain control over Nagaland and Mizoram seats. It may also get one seat in Meghalaya. The regional parties are likely to score the other seat in Meghalaya and the lone seat in Sikkim, dethroning SDF.
Collectively, the North East accounts for 25 Members of Parliament. Assam sends 14 MPs, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Tripura and Manipur send two MPs each, while Sikkim, Nagaland and Mizoram have one seat each in the Lok Sabha.
If exit poll results hold true, the BJP will sweep 18-20 seats in the North East. This would be a significant increase from the 2014 Lok Sabha elections where the party had won only eight out of the 25 seats.
The elections in eight North Eastern States were held over three phases from April 11 to April 23. The counting of votes will be taken up on May 23.
The polling in the North East started on April 11. In the first phase of Lok Sabha elections, polling took place in five out of 14 seats in Assam, both seats in Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya, lone seat in Sikkim, Nagaland and Mizoram and one out of two seats in Manipur and Tripura.
In second phase, five Lok Sabha seats in Assam and remaining seat in Manipur and Tripura voted to elect their representative on April 18.
In third phase on April 23, remaining four seats in Assam - Dhubri, Kokrajhar, Barpeta, Guhati - witnessed polling.
In 2014, seven seats in Assam had gone to Bharatiya Janata Party, three each to Congress and All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) and one was won by an Independent candidate.
Both seats in Manipur were secured by Congress, while two Lok Sabha seats of Tripura had gone to CPM.
Congress had also won one seat in Arunachal Pradesh, one in Meghalaya and the lone seat of Mizoram. The other seat in Arunachal had gone to BJP. National People's Party had won the Tura seat in Meghalaya. Sikkim Democratic Front and Naga People's Front were winners on lone Lok Sabha seats in Sikkim and Nagaland, respectively.
India Today