In Tripura, BJP returns to power for 2nd consecutive term

way2barak, March 2 : The ruling BJP returned to power in Tripura for the second consecutive term winning 32 seats, one seat more than the magic figure in the 60-member state assembly, for which elections were held on February 16.

In the 2018 assembly polls BJP secured 36 seats.

According to the declarations of results by the Election Commission, the tribal-based Tipra Motha Party (TMP), which for the first time contested the Assembly election in 42 seats on its own, became the second single largest party securing 13 seats.

The CPI-M won 11 seats while the Congress won three seats. The CPI-M led Left Front, which contested the elections in a seat sharing deal with Congress, has put up 47 candidates allotting 13 to the Congress.

The candidate of BJP ally Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT) won the Jolaibari seat in southern Tripura.

In the 2018 assembly polls, the BJP got 36 seats and its ally bagged eight seats while the CPI-M secured 16 seats.

Most of the top BJP leaders, including Chief Minister Manik Saha, his cabinet colleague Ratan Lal Nath and Union Minister Pratima Bhowmik were re-elected from Town Bordowali, Mohanpur and Dhanpur seats, respectively.

Deputy Chief Minister and senior BJP leader Jishnu Dev Varma lost his Charilam seat to TMP candidate Subodh Deb Barma by a margin of 858 votes.

BJP state President, Rajib Bhattacharjee, who contested the assembly elections for the first time, lost the Banamalipur seat to former state Congress President Gopal Chandra Roy by a margin of 1369 votes. The Banamalipur seat was earlier won by former Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb in the 2018 assembly polls.

State ministers Rampada Jamatia (Bagma seat), Sushanta Chowdhury (Majlishpur), Ratan Lal Nath (Mohanpur), Ram Prasad Paul (Surjyamaninagar), state assembly Speaker Ratan Chakraborty (Khayerpur), Deputy Speaker Biswa Bandhu Sen (Dharmanagar), veteran leadeer Surajit Datta (Ramnagar) were re-elected to the state assembly.

BJP’s two sitting MLAs Dilip Das (Barjala) and Krishnadhan Das (Bamutia) lost their seats to the CPI-M candidates.

The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) candidates won 11 seats, including Pratapgarh, Khowai, Kadamtala-Kurt,Sabroom, Sonamura, Bamutia, Hrishamukh, Jubarajnagar, Belonia, Boxanaga and Barjala.

Among the important CPI-M candidates, who won the polls, are state party Secretary Jitendra Chowdhury (Sabroom seat), Sudip Sarkar (Barjala), Dipankar Sen (Belonia), Shyamal Chakraborty (Sonamura).

Congress, which contested the February 16 Assembly elections in seat sharing adjustments with the Left parties, won the Agartala, Kailashahar and Banamalipur seats.

Congress candidates Sudip Roy Barman, Gopal Chandra Roy and state Congress President Birajit Sinha re-elected to the state assembly from Agartala, Banamalipur and Kailashahar seats respectively.

Among the important TMP candidates who won their seats include Chitta Ranjan Debbarma (Ambassa seat), Pathan Lal Jamatia (Ampinagar), Animesh Debbarma (Asharambari) and Paul Dangshu (Karamchara).

In the February 16 elections to the 60-seat Tripura Assembly, 89.95 per cent of the 28.14 lakh voters exercised their franchise and will decide the fate of 259 candidates, including 31 women.

The counting of votes were held on Thursday in 60 counting centers at 21 locations across the state under tight security measures.

In the 2018 assembly polls, the BJP won 36 seats while its ally IPFT got eight seats and the CPI-M bagged 16 seats.