GUWAHATI: Proving poll pundits wrong, the Congress has managed to win 13 of the 25 seats in the North-East despite a strong anti-incumbency wave and a united effort put up by the Asom Gana Parishad and BJP in Assam, which alone has 14 seats.
In the 2004 Lok Sabha polls, Congress had won 11 seats as against 14 by the non-Congress parties in the region.
The Congress suffered a setback in Assam, winning seven seats -- Jorhat, Diphu, Dibrugarh, Kaliabor, Lakhimpur, Barpeta and Karimganj. BJP came second, winning the Silchar, Guwahati, Nagaon and Mongoldai seats. Assam United Democratic Front, Asom Gana Parishad and Bodoland Peoples Front bagged one seat each.
Prominent among the winners were sitting MPs B.K Handique, Deep Gogoi, Biren Singh Engti (all from Congress), Rajen Gohain (BJP), SK Bismuthiary (BPF), former Union Ministers Paban Singh Ghatowar of Congress and Bijoya Chakraborty of BJP, Ramen Deka, also of BJP and AUDF chief Badruddin Azmal.
The prominent losers were Union Minister Santosh Mohan Dev, lottery king M K Subba (both from Congress) and Sarbananda Sonowal of AGP. Dev lost to Kabindra Purakayastha of BJP in Silchar while Subba lost to Joseph Toppo of the AGP in Tezpur. Sonowal lost to Ghatowar in Dibrugarh.
In Arunachal Pradesh, Congress sprang a surprise winning both Arunachal West and Arunachal East seats.
Sitting MPs Khiren Rijiju and Tapir Gao (both BJP) lost to Takam Sanjay and Ninong Ering.
In Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tripura and Sikkim, the results were a near-repeat of 2004.
In Manipur, Congress won both the seats. Sitting party MP T Meinya retained the Inner Manipur seat but the other sitting MP Mani Charanamei (Independent) lost to Thangso Paite of the Congress in Outer Manipur constituency.
In Nagaland, the lone seat was grabbed by C M Chang of Nagaland People’s Front. He defeated his nearest rival K. Asungba Sangtam of the Congress by over four lakh votes.
The NPF also won four Assembly seats, by-elections for which were held simultaneously with Parliamentary elections. The bypolls were necessitated following the resignation of four sitting Congress MLAs from the Assembly.
Congress and NCP shared one seat each in Meghalaya. Sitting MP Agatha K Sangma, daughter of former Lok Sabha Speaker PA Sangma, retained the Tura seat, while Vincent Pala of the Congress won the Shillong seat.
In Tripura, the CPM retained both the seats. Bajuban Reang and Khagen Das defeated their nearest Congress rivals Diba Chandra Hrangkhawl and Sudip Roy Barman in Tripura East and Tripura West constituencies respectively.
In Sikkim, the Sikkim Democratic Front grabbed the lone seat with party candidate P D Rai defeating K N Upreti of Congress by a margin of over 3,000 votes.In Mizoram, Congress aspirant C L Ruala defeated H. Lallungmuana, an independent supported by opposition Mizo National Front, Mizoram People’s Conference and Nationalist Congress Party.