India / Ruling BJP wins 217 out of 222 seats in Tripura civic body elections

Agartala: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) swept the Tripura local body elections, winning 217 of the 222 seats that went to polls, according to the results released on Sunday.

The state’s ruling party won all the seats in 11 urban bodies, including the 51-member Agartala Municipal Corporation (AMC ). Of the total 334 seats across 20 urban bodies in the state, the BJP emerged victorious on 329, having won 112 seats uncontested before the polling took place. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) won three seats, the Trinamool Congress (TMC), which bagged the second highest votes in AMC and the Tipra Motha — helmed by Tripura royal family head Pradyot Kishore Debbarma’s— won one seat each.

The BJP brass said the results showed that Tripura’s people have faith in the party’s governance model.

“The people of Tripura have given a clear message - that they prefer politics of good governance. I would like to thank them for the unequivocal support to @BJP4Tripura,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted.

Union home minister Amit Shah said the results showed people’s “unwavering trust” in the party. “The results are a clear testimony of people’s unwavering trust in BJP’s politics of development. This will further strengthen our resolve to serve the great land of Maa Tripura Sundari,” he tweeted.

Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb said the poll verdict showed that the voters rejected those who he said tried to demean the state. “The people of Tripura from across communities have voted in favour of development. The people have also replied to those who hatched conspiracies to insult and demean our state,” he said.

Left Front convener Narayan Kar said, “ We are thankful to the voters who exercised their franchise in favour of the Left Front. The BJP turned the poll into mockery through violence and using the administrative powers amidst failure of state Election Commission and police. We will strengthen our movement in the coming days.”

The TMC, however, accused the BJP of using unfair means to win the elections, and claimed that their 24% vote share on an average showed that the voters in the state wanted a change of guard.

TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee said the performance was “exceptional” for his party, which had negligible presence in Tripura. “This is despite the fact that we commenced our activities barely 3 months ago and @BJP4Tripura left no stone unturned to butcher democracy BUTCHER DEMOCRACY in Tripura,” he tweeted.

The state has emerged as the latest flashpoint in the tussle between the TMC and the BJP ahead of the state elections, set to take place in 2023. TMC moved the Supreme Court last week alleging violence in the state prior to the local polls against its candidates, prompting the top court to direct the Centre to deploy additional troops in the state.

On Sunday, Section 144 of the CrPc was imposed in the Teliamura Municipal Council area after police personnel and TMC workers were attacked by unidentified men, a police official said.

“Some unidentified miscreants attacked our vehicle while we were escorting polling agents and candidates to their homes, “ said a police official on condition of anonymity. He added that the police resorted to lathicharge to disperse the mob.