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Tripura by-polls, semi-final for parties ahead of 2023 assembly elections
By-elections in four assembly constituencies in Tripura are scheduled to be held on June 23. The results will be declared on June 26.
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AGARTALA: Tripura is all set to witness a tough political fight in the by-elections in four assembly constituencies scheduled to be held on June 23. The by-poll is viewed as a semi-final ahead of the state assembly polls to be held next year.
The results of the by-polls for the Yubrajnagar, Agartala, Bordowali and Surma seats will be declared on June 26. The candidates will require to file their nominations latest by June 6 while their papers will be scrutinised on June 7. Any candidate, if they wish, can withdraw their nominations by June 9, according to a statement released by the Election Commission.
The by-polls in these seats were necessitated after the demise of veteran Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) legislator of Yubrajnagar constituency and former Assembly speaker Ramendra Chandra Debnath this February and three Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislators, Sudip Roy Barman and Asish Kumar Saha switched side to the Congress and Asish Das to Trinamool Congress.
Keen to win all the seats, the political parties especially the ruling BJP is eyeing to capitalise on the results for the 2023 Assembly polls. The party sounded confident to win the Yubrajnagar seat this time.
“ We have already finalised our candidates for the four seats and their names will be declared soon. We are confident that lotus will bloom in another seat ( Yubrajnagar) this time,” said BJP spokesperson Nabendu Bhattacharya.
The by-polls will be a challenge for newly-appointed chief minister Dr. Manik Saha who replaced former chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb this month.
CPI(M) state secretary Jitendra Chaudhury said, “ We are ready to fight in all the seats. Though our candidates are yet to be finalised, we are hopeful to announce the names by May 30.”
The Congress, which failed to gain a single seat in 2018 Assembly polls and has taken a back seat, is now geared up to revive its organisational strength in the state after Sudip Roy Barman and Asish Saha joined the party.
According to people in the Congress, Roy Barman and Asish Saha are expected to contest the by-polls from their own constituencies. However, there’s no confirmation yet from the party.
The Trinamool Congress (TMC) expressed hope to contest in all four seats. “Discussions are going on. We will declare candidates after the notification is issued on May 30,” said TMC Tripura unit chief Subal Bhowmik.
Roy Barman won the 2018 polls from Agartala constituency on a BJP ticket. He was given charges of the Health department, Science and Technology among others in Biplab Deb’s cabinet, but was dropped in 2019 for his alleged differences with Deb. Roy Barman had earlier won the Assembly polls four times on a Congress ticket from the same constituency.
Asish Saha, known to be a close aide of Roy Barman, won Bardowali seat in 2018 on a BJP ticket. Both of them were with the Congress for several years and shifted to West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee-led TMC in 2016 and a year later, joined the saffron party along with four other legislators.
The first-time legislator Asish Das switched over to the TMC in 2021. He won the last Assembly polls from Surma constituency on a BJP ticket.
Late CPI(M) leader Ramendra Chandra Debnath had won polls six times from Yubrajnagar constituency since 1993.
Poll experts predicted that the results of the by-polls may be different if the opposition parties come together. “The by-polls would be a litmus test both for the BJP and the opposition parties, “ said veteran poll expert C. Dey.
