Tripura to witness multi-corner contest in Lok Sabha polls

There are 13 candidates in the fray for the Tripura West seat and 10 in the Tripura East (reserved for tribals) constituency.

Three women candidates (BJP, Congress and Independent) are also contesting the polls.

In the Tripura West seat, the ruling BJP has fielded party’s General Secretary Pratima Bhoumik, CPI-M re-nominated its sitting MP and trade union leader Sankar Prasad Datta and the Congress has nominated Subal Bhowmik, who was BJP’s Vice-President and had quit the party last month.

With the ruling BJP emerging as a potent political force, Tripura will witness a multi-corner contest this time for the state’s two Lok Sabha seats, which were won either by Left parties or the Congress ever since the state was formed in 1972.

The Bharatiya Janata Party in alliance with the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT), wrested power in Tripura for the first time in the 2018 Assembly polls, delivering a major blow to the Left parties.

In the March 3, 2018 Assembly Election the BJP secured 36 seats in the 60-member Assembly and managed to get 43.59 per cent of the valid votes, while the IPFT bagged eight seats and 7.38 per cent votes.

The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M)-led Left Front won 16 seats and bagged 44.35 per cent votes while the Congress could manage only less than two per cent of the votes as most of their workers joined the BJP before the polls.

“With the change of leadership in the state, the Congress would surely improve its position in the coming Lok Sabha polls.

Rejecting the BJP’s appeal, the IPFT has fielded candidates for both the Lok Sabha seats.

IPFT President and Revenue MinisterNarendra Chandra Debbarma is contesting from Tripura East, while the party’s youth leader Brishaketu Debbarma has been fielded from Tripura West.

“We are contesting the elections to raise our demand for statehood in Parliament. We are not snapping our political alliance with the BJP,” Debbarma told