Tripura Bypolls Election Dates

BJP, IPFT to face each other in bypolls

Agartala: Tripura’s ruling allies Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura (IPFT) are set to contest against each other in the bye-elections in the three-tier panchayats on September 30. The BJP Panchayat Election Committee Chairman and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ratan Lal Nath announced on Thursday evening the first list of 3,155 candidates for the bye-elections. Of them, 2,980 candidates will contest the elections in Gram Panchayat seats, 157 in Panchayat Samitis seats and the remaining 18 candidates will contest the Zilla Parishad.

Reacting to the candidate list, IPFT general secretary Mangal Debbarma said his party will contest the panchayat bypolls separately.

“The BJP didn’t advise us regarding alliance for panchayat bypolls. They discussed with our president N.C. Debbarma on Thursday. We have decided to contest separately and shall field candidates against each other,” Mangal said.

Earlier on September 1, state election commissioner G. Kameswara Rao announced byelections in 3,207 seats of gram panchayats, 161 panchayat Samiti seats and 18 seats of Zilla parishads.

The Opposition Congress earlier said it would contest all seats of three-tier panchayats on September 30 and the CPM said it would try to contest in as many seats as possible. BJP leader Pitambar Acharya slammed the ruling party saying there has been no official discussion on advancing Lok Sabha polls. “The ECI takes the call on election schedule keeping in mind a number of factors. I can’t understand the logic behind approaching the ECI with a memorandum,” said Acharya.

CPI (M)-led Left Front, which ruled Tripura for 25 years since 1993, was reduced from 51 seats to 16 seats in the sixty-member state Assembly in February assembly elections this year. BJP, which earlier had no members in the House, managed to form a government with 44 seats in alliance with the IPFT. Congress had three members in the Assembly before the polls; the party was reduced to zero members in the House.