Agartala: As part of the preparation for assembly elections next year, the ruling BJP in Tripura on Saturday announced a 16-member Election Management Committee headed by state President Rajib Bhattacharjee.
Chief Minister Manik Saha, Deputy Chief Minister Jishnu Dev Varma and former Chief Minister and Rajya Sabha member Biplab Kumar Deb are also members of the panel along with Education and Law Minister Ratan Lal Nath.
Some party insiders have complained that senior leaders like Atul Debbarma, Rampada Jamatia, Ramprasad Paul and several others have been kept out of the election committee.
Instead, those who joined the BJP from the CPI-M and the Congress in last five to seven years were included in the highest body, they pointed out.
“The BJP has been suffering from faction feuds since it won the assembly polls in 2018 and it has fragmented over the years. New BJP leaders are trying hard to marginalise the voice of old guards,” said a senior party functionary.
The entire process of assembly elections in the state has to be completed by March 9 next year.
The Election Management Committee will finalize the election strategies and will take care of all matters from selecting candidates to campaigning.
