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Congress leads in HP, Meghalaya
March 01, 2003 11:32 IST
The Congress on Saturday established early leads over the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in Himachal Pradesh and was ahead in Meghalaya along with coalition partners.
But the party trailed behind the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist in Tripura as the counting of votes progressed in four states that went to polls.
In Nagaland, the opposition Naga People's Front won two seats defeating the ruling Congress candidates. The NPF and the Congress were leading in two seats each and the BJP and the Janata Dal-United one seat each in the 60-member assembly. The counting of votes has been taken up in only 57 seats.
In Himachal Pradesh, out of the seven results declared in the 68-member assembly, the Congress won four and was leading in 24 other constituencies while the BJP bagged three seats and was ahead in nine. Elections were held only for 65 seats.
A major upset in the state was the defeat of assembly speaker Ghulab Singh Thakur in Joginder Nagar seat. Congress stalwarts Virbhadra Singh and Vidya Stokes were leading in Rohroo and Kumarsain respectively.
BJP chief Jaikishan Sharma was trailing in Santogarh.
Anita Verma of the Congress won from Hamirpur. The party also won Garget and Kulehar constituencies. The BJP bagged the Mewa seat.
The Himachal Vikas Congress was ahead in three seats with its chief Sukh Ram leading in Mandi.
In the 60-member assembly in Tripura, the CPI-M, the major partner in the ruling Left Front, bagged the first two seats. The Left Front was leading in 12 seats while the Congress in seven.
Faizur Rehman (CPI-M), Minister for Minorities, defeated Abdul Motin Chowdhury (Congress) by 1011 votes in Kurti while Gunapada Jamatia (CPI-M) wrested Bagma seat defeating Ratimohan Jamatia (INPT) by 74 votes.
In Meghalaya the ruling coalition Meghalaya People's Forum, including the Congress, was leading in 32 of the 60 seats for which elections were held. The Congress was leading in 12 seats, the Nationalist Congress Party in 6 and the Meghalaya Democratic Party in 5. The opposition UDP led in three, the BJP two and Independents two.
In Nagaland, former Power Minister K Therie of the NPF beat L Mero of the Congress by 1503 votes in Pfutsero constituency.
On the Western Angami seat, Kiya Nilie (NPF) beat sitting MLA Afu Key Ho (Congress) by 960 votes.
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