A Comfortable Win, With One Seat Down to the Wire
What happened
Indian National Congress won again, with a comfortable majority in the assembly.
The INC won 34 of the 60 seats on offer.
It has now won 2 elections in a row.
That was well clear of the 31-seat majority mark.
Its nearest rival, the Naga National Democratic Party, trailed with 18 seats.
What changed
INC added to its majority again this election, continuing its stretch of growth since returning to power.
The INC grew from 24 seats to 34.
That left it 3 seats clear of the majority mark.
Its vote share — the slice of all ballots cast that went to one party or candidate — rose too, up +7.8 pp from the previous election.
Notable numbers
A few numbers from the results stand out on their own.
Northern Angami-I, Nagaland had the closest finish anywhere in the election, decided by a margin — how far ahead the winner finished, in votes, over whoever came second — of just 3 votes.
Mongoya, Nagaland swung the other way, with the widest margin of the election in percentage terms, at 41.1%.
Turnout — the share of registered voters who actually cast a ballot — ranged from 56.6% at Ghaspani-I, Nagaland to 99.5% at Tamlu, Nagaland.
Peren, Nagaland drew the most candidates of any seat, with 8 standing.
The backdrop
This continued a run of election wins for INC, following its return to power in the previous election.