After a successful five-year stint, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT) alliance is all set to return to power, clinching 33 seats together in the 60-member Assembly. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M) and Congress combine finished second, bagging 14 seats, while Tipra Motha, which made its debut this year, secured 13 seats. The results are largely in keeping with the exit polls prediction, which had predicted the BJP’s return to power in the state.
The man of the moment in Tripura is Chief Minister Manik Saha, who contested from the Town Bardowali Assembly seat, and defeated his nearest rival Congress Asish Kumar Saha by 1,257 votes. Tipped to return as the CM, the Congress-turned-BJP leader led the party to victory for the second term.
Saha joined the BJP in 2016 and was made the CM in 2022, after former Chief Minister Biplab Deb stepped down from the post, the 69-year-old dental surgeon-turned-politician has only risen up the ladder.
Meanwhile, senior Congress leader and ex-minister Sudip Roy Barman, a the six-term MLA, won the Agartala Assembly seat, defeating BJP candidate Papia Dutta by 8,162 votes.
Union minister and BJP candidate Pratima Bhoumik defeated her nearest rival Kaushik Chanda of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) by 3,500 votes from the Dhanpur seat. This was Chanda’s electoral debut. The Dhanpur Assembly constituency used to be CPI(M) stalwart and four-time CM Manik Sarkar’s constituency, who stepped aside to make way for Chanda.
CPI-M secretary Jitendra Chaudhary, who was touted to be the CM face for the Left-Congress combine, beat his nearest rival Sankar Roy of the BJP by a close margin of 396.
Following the win, Prime Minister Narendra Modi thanked the people for bringing BJP back to power.
“Thank you Tripura! This is a vote for progress and stability. @BJP4Tripura will continue to boost the state’s growth trajectory. I am proud of all Tripura BJP Karyakartas for their spectacular efforts at the grassroots.”
As the party was clinching towards its victory, celebrations began in Tripura, and slogans such as ‘Narendra Modi Zindabad’ and ‘Jai Shri Ram’ rented the air at the BJP election office in the Colonel Chowmuhani area in Agartala with party workers exchanging sweets, bursting firecrackers and playing an early Holi.
In the 2018 assembly elections, the BJP had won 36 seats, while its ally IPFT bagged 18 constituencies. The CPI(M)-led Left Front emerged victorious in 16 seats, while the Congress drew a blank.