Agartala, Jun 26, 2022, TRIPURATIMES Desk
Agartala, June 26: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has secured victory in three among the four seats while lost prestigious Agartala that went to by-elections on June 23 last.
Three BJP candidates-- Chief Minister Dr. Manik Saha (8- Town Bordowali), Malina Debnath (57- Jubarajnagar) and Swapna Das Paul (46- Surma) have won the by-polls with comfortable margins while Congress' Sudip Roy Barman gave a major jolt to BJP in the all-important Agartala seat.
Dr. Ashok Sinha was BJP's pick for this seat but the Congress leader made it to the win based on his 'committed' vote bank. As per he trend, Roy Barman received votes from CPI-M also. He was attacked two days before the Assembly polls and hospitalized.
As the by-election was viewed as semi-finals before Tripura goes to Assembly Election early next year, the results announced on Sunday would definitely give a boost to the saffron brigade. On he other side, Roy Barman's win in Agartala became a lesson for the ruling BJP.
According to the poll results declared by the Returning Officers of Agartala and Bordowali seats, Sudip Roy Barman and Dr. Manik Saha won the election.
In 8- Town Bordowali (EVM+ Postal Ballot vote count) Dr. Manik Saha (BJP) secured total 17,181 (16870+ 311) followed by Ashis Kumar Saha (Cong) 11077 (10930+147) votes, Sanhita Banerjee (TMC)- total 986 (973+13) and Raghunath Sarkar (FB)- 3376 (3298+ 78).
As per the results, Dr. Manik Saha defeated his neatest candidate Ashis Kumar Saha by 6104 votes.
In 6 Agartala seat (EVM + Postal ballots vote), Congress candidate Sudip Roy Barman (Cong) secured 17431 votes followed by Dr. Ashok Sinha (BJP) 14268 votes, Krishna Majumder (CPM)- 6808 and Panna Deb (TMC)- 842 votes. A secret understanding between Congress and CPI-M worked in this seat and it was evident in the vote share.
BJP candidates' margins in the two other seats-- Swapna Das Paul (Surma) and Malina Debnath (Jubarajnagar) are also comfortable.
In 46-Surma, Congress didn’t take part in the electoral battle and reportedly extended supports to Tipra Motha. The Pradyot Kishore Debbarma-led Tipra Motha secured 11,912 votes but BJP’s Swapna Das Paul became the winner with 16,472 votes. CPM’s Anjan Das is in third position with 8296 votes and Arjun Namasudra of TMC secured 1333 votes.
The voters of Jubarajnagar also elected BJP candidate- Malina Debnath (18,769 votes). Shailendra Chandra Nath of CPM received 14,197 votes, Congress candidate Susmita Debnath secured 1440 votes and TMC’s Mrinal Kanti Debnath got 1080 votes.
All eyes were set on Town Bordowali, where the Chief Minister contested, and Agartala, stronghold of Congress leader Sudip Roy Barman. Meanwhile, BJP fought this election amid several challenges including the change in the Chief Minister's face.
The counting of votes commenced at 8 am in three counting centres-- Umakanta Academy (Old Building) in Agartala, Kamalpur Class-XII School in Kamalpur of Dhalai district and Bir Bikram Institution in Dharmanagar of North Tripura district.
All the three counting centres have been put under strong security cover with deployment of Central Armed Paramilitary Forces (CAPFs). Besides, prohibitory orders have been imposed in 200-mtr radius of the counting centres to ensure a smooth counting process.
The by-polls recorded voters’ turnout of 78.58 percent (EVM count)-- 77.35 percent in Agartala, 71.13 per cent in Bordowali, 83.11 per cent in Surma and 83.12 per cent in Jubarajnagar. The voting process passed off peacefully on June 23 last, except some stray incidents.