A three-cornered electoral battle for the northeastern state
On February 16, 2023, elections were held in Tripura to elect the 60 members of its Legislative Assembly. The vote count and results will be announced on March 2, 2023.
In the first major elections of 2023, a three-cornered electoral battle in Tripura was witnessed between the combined BJP-IPFT, the Left-Congress alliance and the newly launched regional party, Pradyot Bikram Manikya Deb Barma’s Tipra Motha party.
A great test for the headline
The elections in Tripura are a big test to rule the BJP ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. BJP is facing a stiff challenge from a two-year-old Tipra Motha party. During the 2021 tribal council election, the Tipra Motha party won a significant number of seats in the tribal belt.
In the 60-member Tripura Legislative Assembly, 20 seats are reserved for tribal areas, making the Tipra Motha party a strong player to grab the majority of seats in this region.
In recent months, the BJP’s key tribal ally, the IPFT, has faced heavy defections, with many of its leaders leaving the party and joining rival parties.
Many top leaders are competing
In this election, the current Chief Minister of Tripura Manik Saha is the BJP candidate from the Town Bardowali constituency. Another senior member of the BJP, Union Minister Pratima Bhowmik is running for the Dhanpur seat.
CPI(M) secretary of state Jitendra Chaudhury, who is seen as the face of the Left-Congress combination, is running for the Sabroom assembly seat. Tipra Motha party supremo Deb Barma is not contesting any seats.
Regional Development and Growth Promise
The pro-government BJP campaigned on the development electoral board and highlighted the work done by the current government in the northeastern state in the last five years.
On the other hand, the combination of the Left Front and the Congress emphasizes total misrule and bad governance by the BJP-led government. Deb Barma’s party is contesting her demand for ‘Greater Tipraland’.
History of surveys created in 2018
In previous assembly elections, the BJP made history by ending the 25-year Left Front rule in Tripura. In 2018 polls, the BJP won 36 seats in the assembly, while its ally IPFT won 8 seats.
Presence of Security Forces for Free and Fair Elections
For the 2023 assembly elections, voting took place under tight security from 7 am to 4 pm at 3,337 polling stations. The electoral director, Gitte Kirankumar Dinakarrao, has said that this time, 1,100 polling stations were identified as sensitive and 28 considered critical.
International and interstate borders were closed during assembly elections to prevent any potential troublemakers from entering the state.
March 2 Decide the fate of the candidates
The voters have cast their votes and on March 2 the results will show if the people have confidence in the development work of the current regime and are happy with it, or they will go for the Left-Congress front, or they will elect the new party regional.
