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Manik Saha files papers for his first election, pitted against ex-BJP leader Asish Saha
On the Town Bordowali seat, Tripura chief minister Manik Saha will be pitted against Asish Kumar Saha, who won the seat on a BJP ticket in the 2018 elections
AGARTALA: Tripura chief minister Manik Saha on Monday filed his nomination papers for the Town Bordowali assembly segment, one of the four seats in the state that are due to vote on June 23. Saha, who also heads the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state unit, said he was confident that the party will win the four seats.
“We are more than 100% confident to win all the four seats in the by-polls. Law and order and development are our primary poll issues,” Saha told reporters after filing his nomination papers.
This is Manik Saha’s maiden election. Saha joined the BJP in 2015 and was appointed party’s state unit in 2020, replacing Biplab Kumar Deb. Saha took over as chief minister last month after Biplab Kumar Deb resigned on the party’s instructions ahead of assembly elections in 2023.
As Saha walked to the local election office leading a group of BJP workers to file his nomination, Biplab Kumar Deb and his wife Niti Deb were by his side.
“Glad to participate in the nomination submission rally of @DrManikSaha2 Ji for the upcoming by-election, along with party colleagues and Karyakartas. The enthusiasm of beloved people clearly shows people want BJP’s development oriented politics shall continue in state, “ Deb later said on Twitter.
The BJP’s other three candidates, Ashok Sinha from the Agartala seat, Swapna Das Paul from Surma seat and Malina Debnath from Yubrajnagar constituencies also filed their nomination papers on Monday.
The by-polls were necessitated due to the exit of three BJP legislators to the Congress and Trinamool Congress, and the death of Communist Party of India-Marxist veteran Ramendra Chandra Nath in February.
On the Town Bordowali seat, Manik Saha will be pitted against Asish Kumar Saha, who won the seat on a BJP ticket in the 2018 elections.
Asish Saha has been representing the seat in the assembly since 2013 when he won from the constituency in 2013. He crossed over to the Trinamool Congress in 2016 because he was unhappy at the party’s alliance with the Left Front, and in 2017, moved to the BJP. Earlier this year, Ashish Kumar Saha and Sudip Roy Barman, quit the BJP and joined the Congress. Both filed their nomination papers on Monday; Barman from Agartala and Saha from Town Bordowali.
“We are hopeful of returning to the assembly. The BJP didn’t do anything for the people. So, people are not eager to vote for BJP, “ said Asish Saha.
Roy Barman, who was initially health minister in Biplab Kumar Deb’s cabinet in 2018, before he was dropped from the cabinet due to reported differences with Deb, said: “People have seen activities of Congress and BJP. People have no faith in the BJP. Now, the people could decide after comparing both the parties. We are hopeful of our victory”.
