Dhanpur, Boxanagar by-elections 2023: The BJP won the by-elections to the Dhanpur and Boxanagar assembly seats in Tripura’s Sepahijala district on Friday by huge margins, the Election Commission of India (ECI) data showed.
BJP’s Tafajjal Hossain won the Boxanagar seat by 30,237 votes. Hossain got 34,146 votes defeating his nearest rival Mizan Hossain of the CPI(M) who got 3,909 votes. For the Dhanpur seat, BJP candidate Bindu Debnath bagged the seat, which has a significant tribal population, by 18,871 votes. Debnath got 30,017 votes, and his nearest rival Kaushik Chanda of the CPI(M) got 11,146 votes.
The polling for the by-elections was held on September 5. An average turnout of 86.50 per cent was recorded in the two seats. The counting was held at the Sonamura Girls’ School amid tight security.
The by-election to the Boxanagar constituency was necessitated by the death of CPI(M) MLA Samsul Haque. Union Minister Pratima Bhoumik’s resignation as the MLA of Dhanpur necessitated the by-election in that seat.
Meanwhile, alleging large-scale rigging during the polling and inaction by the Election Commission, the opposition CPI(M) boycotted the counting of votes. The two seats witnessed a one-on-one fight between the ruling BJP and the CPI(M) with the other two opposition parties, Tipra Motha and Congress, not fielding any candidates.
Following the win, the saffron party said it is the end of the road for the communists in the northeastern state, which was once known as a Left bastion.
The saffron party gave the credit for its victory in the Tripura bypolls to the “strong and widely recognised” leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his mantra of “Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas”.
“I extend my heartfelt gratitude to the people of Tripura for making the BJP victorious in the Boxanagar and Dhanpur assembly bye-elections,” Home Minister Amit Shah said in a post on X. The victory in the bypolls will further strengthen “our determination” to transform Tripura into a prosperous state under the leadership of the prime minister, he added.
Shah also congratulated Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha, state BJP president Rajib Bhattacharjee and the party workers for the “resounding” victory.
BJP chief J P Nadda said in a post on X, “This result shows the people’s approval to the developmental works carried out by our double-engine government under the guidance of PM Narendra Modiji.”