• Abhijit Nath, NET Correspondent, Tripura

Agartala, June 26, 2022: Tripura’s Bharatiya Janata Party maintained its winning streak in the by-elections with capturing of three seats while Congress candidate Sudip Roy Barman revived in his seat for the sixth consecutive term.

The ruling BJP in Tripura won in 8-Town Bardowali, 46-Surma and 57-Jubarajnagar while Congress managed to achieve conquest in 6-Agartala assembly constituency. The CPIM-led Left Front failed to win a lone seat in this by-election held on June 23 last. It is witnessed that the Left Front has been severely defeated in the by-elections.

In 6-Agartala assembly constituency, Congress candidate Sudip Roy Barman won the election for the sixth consecutive term with a margin of 3163 votes. He won the assembly election in 2018 as a BJP candidate and became the Health minister under Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb’s cabinet. But within a year and a half, he lost his cabinet berth and joined the Congress in February last. Today, Roy Barman defeated BJP candidate Dr Ashok Sinha.

In 8-Town Bardowali assembly constituency, incumbent Chief Minister and BJP candidate Dr Manik Saha has won by a margin of 6104 votes. He defeated Congress candidate Asish Kumar Saha. Asish also won the 2018 assembly elections on a BJP ticket. Later in February last, he resigned along with Roy Barman. Recently, Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb resigned and then Dr Manik Saha has been given the responsibility of the Chief Minister. He won the by-election by a huge margin. Earlier, this year, he had won the Rajya Sabha elections alsi. However, this is the first time he has been elected by the people.

In the Surma assembly constituency, BJP’s Swapna Das Paul achieved victory with 16677 votes while the TIPRA Motha candidate Baburam Satnami leads the second position with 12094 votes. CPIM is in third position with 8415 votes.

In 57-Jubarajnagar assembly constituency, BJP candidate Malina Debnath won defeating her nearest rival Left Front candidate Sailendra Chandra Nath by a margin of 4572 votes. After 29 years of long Leftist dominated 57-Jubarajnagar assembly constituency, the seat has been liberated and won by the BJP nominated candidate Malina Debnath. Earlier, CPIM MLA and Assembly Speaker Ramendra Chandra Debnath was elected from this seat. However, due to his untimely demise, a by-election was held in this constituency. The BJP’s huge margin of victory in the Jubarajnagar seat, known as the CPM’s average, has proved that the Left’s existence in Tripura is in dire straits.

Most importantly, the by-elections have revealed the extreme state of affairs of the Trinamool Congress. The deposit of Trinamool Congress in four seats were forfeited. As it turns out, the West Bengal model has completely failed to impress the people in Tripura.