By: Debraj Deb ( Asstt. Editor-North East cum Bureau Chief-ICN Tripura )
AGARTALA: Opposition BJP today totally swept the communist bastion in Tripura by winning 43 seats out of 59 assembly constituencies in the state which went to polls on Feb 18. Election was earlier suspended at Charilam constituency after Left Front candidate Ramendra Narayan Debbarma expired of cardiac arrest.
No official in the state electoral authority was available for comments. However, the office of Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Sriram Taranikanti informed this correspondent that BJP alliance emerged victorious in 35 seats while their ally – Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura (IPFT) won in 8 seats. CPIM-led Left Front, which ruled Tripura for last 25 years, was reduced to 16 seats from 51 seats in the last assembly.
As per latest statistics, BJP received 43 percent vote share while CPIM got 42.7 percent votes. IPFT, on the other hand, won 7.5 percent votes.
Counting was stalled at two assembly constituencies – Simna and Dhanpur for several hours today as BJP raised objections on counting. As per late evening reports, Chief Minister Manik Sarkar won at his home turf – Dhanpur with 5,441 vote margin above BJP candidate Pratima Bhowmik.
However, BJP state vice president Subal Bhowmik lost at Sonamura assembly constituency. Apart from these, several stalwarts fell to BJP in this election.
Transport Minister Manik Dey, Agriculture Minister Aghore Debbarma and others lost, to the surprise of many. Young BJP leader Sushanta Choudhury defeated Manik Dey in his debut contest in assembly election.
In his reaction to election results, CPIM state secretary Bijan Dhar said this evening, “The results were unexpected”.
He added that his party would review the poll outcome since results didn’t match public support which was seen during campaigning. Dhar also hinted at possibilities of EVM tampering and said his party would review chances of ‘digital manipulations’.
Tripura Pradesh Congress spokesperson Harekrishna Bhowmik thanked voters for casting mandate against the communists and said he ‘welcomed’ the mandate. Congress would review results in an AICC plenary meeting which is slated to start from March 16, Bhowmik said.
BJP national general secretary Ram Madhav congratulated electors for voting in large numbers for his party and said they would make sure a ‘stable government’ was given to the people. Ram Madhav gave credit for the victory to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, party president Amit Shah and other leaders who, he said, ‘toiled hard’ to achieve the victory.
BJP emerged as prime challenger to Left Front with lucrative poll assurances which include 7th Pay Commission benefits for state government employees, higher labour wage rates, employment for everyone etc.
