Assembly Election: MoS Pratima Bhowmik’s nomination to boost BJP in Tripura

Bharatiya Janata Party has declared a list of 54 candidates for the Tripura Assembly election on Saturday, while the ally of the ruling party IPFT has declared names of 5 candidates.

Seven MLAs are not given tickets in this election, as new faces are included in the list.
With a surprise, the name of Union Minister of State Pratima Bhoumik is declared as the BJP candidate from her home constituency, Dhanpur.

The nomination of Ms. Bhowmik is expected to play a major role in the BJP’s poll campaign due to her popularity.

She was one of the loyal leaders who rallied with BJP supporters to oust the decades­-old Left Front government in the 2018 election.
She has been sympathetic towards tribal people and Muslims, who constitute a major part of the electorate in her home district of Sepahijala.

While selecting candidates, the Central Election Committee consulted with her and selected Tofajjal Hussain for the Boxanagar constituency under Sepahijala district as per source.

Notably, Ms. Bhowmik contested the 2018 Assembly election from Dhanpur but lost to former Chief Minister Manik Sarkar.

According to political observers, as CPIM politburo leader Mr. Sarkar will not contest in the election due to nomination of a fresh face by the party in Dhanpur, the Union Minister would enjoy an upper hand.

Supporters of Pratima Bhowmik celebrated her nomination as well as many of them demanded to make her the Chief Minister candidate.