E-Paper
CPI-M sweeps Tripura
Hardly a feather was ruffled in Tripura when the ruling CPI-M bagged all two LS seats up for grab, because it was expected.
Hardly a feather was ruffled in Tripura when the ruling CPI-M bagged all two Lok Sabha seats up for grab, because it was expected.
In fact, the ruling party, which had won the two seats consecutively on all four previous occasions, was this time looking to increase the margin taking advantage of the split in the opposition vote.
In the 1999 elections, the CPI-M candidate, Samar Chowdhuri, contesting from the West Tripura constituency defeated his nearest rival from Trinamool Congress, Sudhir Ranjan Majumder, former chief minister of Tripura, by a margin of 1,98,399 votes.
Also in the East Tripura (reserve) constituency, the CPI-M candidate, Bajuban Reang, defeated his nearest BJP rival, Jishn Debbarma, by over a margin of 1.50,500 votes.
The indigenous Nationalist Party of Tripura, which was the former poll ally of INC in the 2003 assembly elections in Tripura, had joined the NDA alliance as its constituent.
Though the Trinamool Congress together with the INPT and the BJP put common candidates against the ruling Left Front, their plan did not materialise.
