The Bharatiya Janata Party has swept the polls in Tripura once again, this time the civic by-elections where it won a whopping 66 out 67 Wards. One ward was bagged by the CPI (M). Almost all opposition parties have lost their security deposits.
The all four wards of the 49-member Agartala Municipal Corporation (AMC) were bagged by the BJP, while the CPI(M) and the Congress trailed far behind in terms of vote share. Ten out of 11 Municipal Councils are won by the BJP while one went to the CPI(M). Sunil Deodhar, BJP National Secretary and state in-charge of Tripura, took to Twitter to congratulate BJP karyakartas.
Again!
Great news coming from Tripura!
Heartiest Congratulations to @BjpBiplab & Karyakartas of @BJP4Tripura on winning 11 out of 11 Municipal councils & 4 out of 4 seats in Agartala Municipal corporation. @INCIndia & @cpimspeak have lost deposits in almost all seats.@BJP4India— Sunil Deodhar (Modi Ka Parivar) (@Sunil_Deodhar) December 28, 2018
Now, the BJP holds 157 out 158 Urban local bodies in Tripura. 91 were bagged by BJP uncontested while 67 seats went to polls on December 27, Thursday.
Party-wise results of the Bye-Elections of Urban Local Bodies
Tripura Elections.Seats where elections were due – 158
Seats won uncontested by BJP – 91
Seats where elections were contested – 67
Seats won by BJP- 66Total seats won by:
BJP – 157
CPM – 01
Congress- 00— Sunil Deodhar (Modi Ka Parivar) (@Sunil_Deodhar) December 28, 2018
In September, the BJP had won about 96 per cent seats in the Panchayat by-elections and all Zila Parishad seats in the state. BJP’s unprecedented success in the northeastern state started earlier this year. Earlier this year, Tripura had ousted the CPI(M) in Assembly elections after 25 years of Communist rule. While the Congress seemed to have no takers, the BJP, which had no seats in 2013, bagged 35 seats out of 59 in 2018 and formed the government with the ally, Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura, which won 8 seats. The government is headed by 47 year old Chief Minister, Biplab Deb.
Once a strong Kingdom of the Twipra people, that pushed back successive invasions by Islamic rulers as well as the Burmese, Tripura had been under the rule of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) for the last 25 years until February, 2018.
However, the hammer and sickle party has been facing a backlash from the electorate ever since the saffron party strengthened its presence in Tripura. Defections to the BJP, from former Chief Minister Manik Sarkar’s party had been taking place since 2017. BJP’s pitch for development of the state enticed voters who were disillusioned by Manik Sarkar’s rule. After election win, a statue of Russian Communist leader of the early 20th century, Vladimir Lenin was brought down to the ground by saffron-clad voters including women, in a display of retribution against the previous dispensation. That spree seems to continue in the northeastern state, where voters have marked the beginning of a developed and more integrated Tripura.