Tripura parties all set to start election campaign after polls dates were announced yesterday

All the parties welcomed the two-phase election in Tripura - one seat in each phase and said that the candidates would be declared soon for the respective parties. However, both the tribal parties – the ruling IPFT and opposition INPT have not yet decided their poll strategy.

According to poll schedule, election to West Tripura general seat will be held on April 11 and East Tripura tribal reserved seats on April 18. The opposition parties demanded to hold the election under the control of central paramilitary force, as they alleged there is no democratic environment under BJP rule.

However, ruling BJP asserted that they are ready to fight the election to get the true reflection of people’s mandate and host a free and fair poll. As of now, 25.98 lakh voters are registered in the electoral roll in the state and commission has allowed continuous updation of roll as per rule.

The left front chairman Bijan Dhar said that soon left parties will give final touch to the candidate selection and indicated that the incumbent MP in Loksabha Shankar Prasad Datta will fight from West Tripura while MP Jitendra Chowdhury will contest from East Tripura reserved seat as left front nominees.

“The people of Tripura are not happy with the performance of BJP-IPFT government in the last one year. There is no democratic environment in the state. The opposition MLAs and former ministers are facing security threat every day. Hundreds of supporters and workers of CPM cannot move fearlessly. We shall reach each house and tell the people to come out fearlessly and vote against the misrule of BJP government here and at the Centre during our election campaign,” Dhar stated.

Tripura Pradesh Congress vice-president Tapas Dey has also accused BJP of destroying democratic ambiance in the state saying that they trust the people and are confident that the Congress will form the government at the Centre but not sure about the fate here.

“We shall announce our candidates by next week and campaign strategies are almost final,” Dey said.

On the other, ruling BJP rubbished the allegations of opposition and charged them for unnecessarily exaggerating the situation with false and fabricated information. The BJP leaders claimed that whatever positive development was brought by Modi government in the last five years in the country, half of them were not even thought of in last 70 years.

“We are not only confident of winning both the seats, but also of our success in each polling booth, as people have seen the change in last one year here under BJP-IPFT government. People don’t believe Congress and CPM for their past,” said BJP Spokesperson Nabendu Bhattacharjee.

He further stated that BJP led NDA will form the government with more seats this time. The process of candidate selection will be done by party’s parliamentary board as per norms, and added, “Whoever be the candidate, BJP will fight tooth and nail against the misinformation campaign resorted to by the opposition.”

Meanwhile, Chief Minister and BJP state president Biplab Kumar Deb also rejected the statements of some IPFT leaders that the regional part will contest the Lok Sabha elections independently, and said that there is no such issue at all. The BJP and IPFT are smoothly running the government for the last one year and all important decisions will be taken in a coordinated manner by the top leadership of both the parties.

Despite the alliance with BJP in the government, a section of leaders of IPFT have been trying to contest both the Lok Sabha seats of Tripura independently.

In a recent meeting of party’s central committee has assigned the responsibility to select suitable IPFT candidates for West and East Tripura Loksabha seats, to tribal welfare minister and IPFT general secretary Mevar Kumar Jamatia, youth leader Mangal Debbarma and vice-president Ananta Debbarma.