Northeast challenge | Mint

The schedule for elections in Tripura, Nagaland and Meghalaya has been announced by the Election Commission. Polls in Tripura will be held on 16 February, the other two states will vote on 27 February, and results for all three are due on 2 March. India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), fresh from an emphatic victory in Gujarat that overshadowed its loss to the Congress party in Himachal Pradesh, has made it clear that it is aiming to win all nine state elections to be held this year. Before Narendra Modi’s ascent to power as Prime Minister with a full BJP majority in the Lok Sabha, India’s northeastern states were mostly seen as beyond the party’s sway. But it won Tripura on its own in 2018, and is part of ruling alliances in the other two slated for polling. The development of the region has been on its policy agenda and scoring wins in these states has been crucial to its projection as an all-India party. That the region has had separatist movements is also a reason for special attention. In this context, as some local analysts contend, the BJP has been displacing the Congress there as the choice of those favouring closer ties with New Delhi. But that in itself needn’t guarantee victory.