Agartala: As many as 23 candidates from nine parties and an independent have submitted their nomination for the June 23 by-election to four assembly constituencies of Tripura, where the scrutiny would take place on Tuesday.
The highest number of nominations has been filed in Bardowali constituency in the city, from where Chief Minister Manik Saha is contesting. There is no independent candidate in Bardowali but SUCI and Amra Bangali have put up their nominees in the high profile seat.
As expected, Congress has not fielded any candidate in Surma (SC) seat and extended support to royal scion Pradyot Kishore Debbarman’s party TIPRA Motha. As a reciprocation, Motha is backing the Congress in Agartala and Bardowali constituencies, which have a of sizeable number of tribal voters.
However, Chief Minister Saha is facing a tough challenge in Bardowali, which Left Front major CPI-M has allotted Forward Bloc – in an apparent strategy to give leverage to the Congress.
On the other hand, Trinamool Congress has fielded candidates in all four seats, which may divide the anti-BJP votes thereby benefitting the state’s ruling BJP-IPFT front.
A total electorate of 1,88,854 comprising 95,283 female and 93,567 male voters are eligible to exercise their franchise on the day of the poll.
The Chief Minister, after submitting thes nomination, told the media that his government would not allow any violence or malpractice during the elections.
The opposition parties had repeatedly complained of violence and malpractice during the tenure of Saha’s predecessor Biplab Kumar Deb, who stepped down as Chief Minister on May 14 following orders from the BJP’s central leadership.
