BJP and allies likely to win 20 out of 25 Lok Sabha seats in Northeast — Party leader

New Delhi, Oct. 21 (PTI): The BJP and its allies are expected to win around 20 out of 25 parliamentary seats in the eight northeastern states in the next polls, a senior party functionary has said. At present, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies have 11 seats in the region, out of which seven are from Assam. In the next Lok Sabha election slated for early next year, the BJP is confident of winning seats in states where it had earlier lacked representation, the senior leader, who looks after party affairs in the region, said. Since the last parliamentary election in 2014, the party has won assembly polls in two states -- in Assam and Tripura -- on its own. Besides Mizoram, the seven other northeastern states are today governed by the BJP or its allies. This will also reflect in next year’s parliamentary election, the BJP leader said. Elaborating further, he said as per their surveys, the BJP is likely to win all parliamentary constituencies in Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Tripura, having two seats each. In 2014, the party won only one seat in Arunachal Pradesh and drew blank in the rest. Besides, the BJP is also expected to increase its tally in Assam to nine, another party leader who is deputed in the region said. He further said one seat each is expected from the party’s allies in Nagaland, Mizoram and Assam. Sikkim is governed by the party’s ally Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF), while in Meghalaya the party shares power with the National People’s Party of Conrad Sangma. The BJP leaders underlined that the party has succeeded in convincing the Christians, who are in majority in some northeastern states, that it is not against them. One of the leaders acknowledged that the work of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) -- the BJP’s ideological fountainhead -- and its affiliates in this region also helped the party in its expansion. First list of candidates for Mizoram, Chhattisgarh, Telangana announced The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday released its first list of candidates for Mizoram, Chhattisgarh, and Telangana Assembly elections after long deliberations at a central election committee (CEC) meeting of the party. The party announced names of 77 candidates for Chhattisgarh, 38 for Telangana and 13 for Mizoram. Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh, who is seeking his fourth consecutive term, will contest from the Rajnandgaon seat. Among the 77 candidates announced out of a total of 90 Assembly seats in Chhattisgarh, 14 are women candidates and 14 sitting MLAs have been replaced with new names, Union Minister J.P. Nadda told reporters after the CEC meet attended among others by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah. Among those fielded by the BJP include former IAS officer O.P. Chaudhary and tribal leader Ramdayal Uike, who recently left the Congress to join the party. Chaudhary, the former Collector of Raipur, has been fielded from Kharsia constituency, while Uike will contest from Pali Tanakhar (ST) seat. Besides, Chaudhary and Uike, the BJP named Ama Agarwal from Bilaspur, Brij Mohan Agrawal from Raipur City (South) seats. Nadda said the BJP will also contest the Mizoram Assembly elections on 13 seats. The party also released the list of 38 candidates for the upcoming Telangana Assembly polls. “The party has considered the aspirations of our dedicated workers in Telangana region. Adequate representation has been given to the representatives of all communities,” Nadda said. Elections in Chhattisgarh are scheduled in two phases -- on November 12 and November 20, while the polling in Mizoram and Telangana will take place on November 28 and December 7, respectively. The counting of votes will take place on December 11.