BJP's winning streak in the Northeast to continue

Exit poll results aired on Sunday evening predicted that the BJP and its allies in the Northeast would bag between 17 to 19 of the 24 Lok Sabha seats in the seven states.

BJP had won four seats in the region in 2009, which went up to eight in 2014. The exit poll results, however, predicted that the saffron party and two of its regional allies - AGP and BPF - could win between eight to 12 seats this time.

The exit polls predicted that Congress' count could come down to anywhere between 6 to 7 seats, including four in Assam. Congress had won 13 seats in 2004 and 8 in 2014.

Himanta Biswa Sarma, BJP's face in the Northeast, who is credited for BJP's surge in the region, however, said NDA would win at least 18 to 19 seats in the region.

"Development done by our government headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, nationalism and our strong opposition to earlier policy of appeasement acted in our favour," Sarma told DH, hours after the exit poll results were aired by television channels.

Sarma is the convenor of the North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA), a BJP-floated forum of its regional allies in the Northeast.

The exit poll results predicted that BJP would bag both seats in Tripura, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh, while its allies - the Mizo National Front, will win the lone seat in Mizoram and NDPP will win the Nagaland seat. It predicted that Congress and NPP (another NDA ally) will win one seat each in Meghalaya.

Poll observers said if the exit poll result turns true on Thursday, it would suggest that the strong protests most parts of the Northeast witnessed against the NDA's Citizenship Amendment Bill before the election made no impact on voting behaviour.

At least 11 regional parties, including eight NEDA partners, had stood against the Citizenship Amendment Bill in January, soon after it was passed in the Lok Sabha. The bill was not tabled in the Rajya Sabha but BJP chief Amit Shah said here that the party would re-introduce it after Modi becomes Prime Minister again.

AGP had quit the alliance in protest against the bill, but it came back again and fought the Lok Sabha polls together. AGP contested in three seats, BJP fought in 10 while BPF in one seat in Assam.