Despite high decibel campaigning by the Mamta Banerjee’s party Trinamool Congress (TMC), the ruling Bhartiya Janta Party made a clean entry in the Tripura recent urban local bodies (ULBs) elections, the results of which were to be announced on Sunday.
Elections were held for the 20 ULBs, including the Agartala Municipal Corporation, which comprises 51 wards, 13 municipal councils, and six Nagar panchayats.
Out of the 334 ULB seats, the Bhartiya Janta Party won 329 (98.5% seats), the CPI(M) secured 3. In contrast, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the Tipraha Indigenous Progressive Regional Alliance (TIPRA) won 1 seat each.
The Bharatiya Janta Party won 112 seats, spread over four municipal councils and two Nagar panchayats. Elections were held in 222 centers on 25th November, and the Bharatiya Janta Party fielded candidates in all 222 seats.
In comparison, the Trinamool Congress contested in 120 seats, CPI(M) in 197, Congress in 92, CPI in 6 Revolutionary Socialists Party in 2, All India Forward Bloc in 3, others in 10, and independents in 21 seats.
Bharatiya Janta Party president JP Nadda credited the victory in the Tripura municipal elections to the “double engine government” and attacked both opposition parties. In some tweets, he said, “The triumph of Bharatiya Janta Party in local bodies is a symbol of the people’s faith in the policies and the public welfare schemes of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the regulations of the double engine government to the state.
Triumph of TMC
It is the triumph of nationalist forces and progressive thinking. The state’s people have put their stamp on the politics of development by rejecting the disruptive troops who are doing politics of violence, controversy, and those who disrespect Tripura.
After its last victory in the West Bengal assembly elections held earlier this year, the Trinamool Congress started spreading its wings. It tried to expand its members in the Northeast, particularly in Tripura and Assam, besides Goa.
Former Lok Sabha Member of Parliament (MP) from Silchar in Assam and former chief of Congress’s national women’s wing Sushmita Dev joined the Trinamool Congress in August. Her paternal Santosh Mohan Dev was a seven-term Lok Sabha Member of Parliament.
Out of these terms, he had also won twice from Tripura West. Trinamool Congress nominated Ms. Sushmita Dev to Rajya Sabha. The party became active in the city of Tripura, believing that it would get a “readymade platform”.
Prashant Kishor’s party
It thought the ruling Bharatiya Janta Party had not lived up to its promise and the left front had become weak with time while the Congress party did not even have a booth level committee in the hilly state. Besides Sushmita Dev, Trinamool Congress general secretary and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamta Banerjee‘s nephew Abhishek Banerjee and party Rajya Sabha MP Derek O’Brien became active in Tripura.
The party also activated political strategies. Prashant Kishor led Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC) to conduct extensive and many surveys. A team of I-PAC, which went to the state to complete the surveys, was detained by the Tripura Police for alleged violation of Covid protocols.
The Trinamool Congress appeared to be posing a serious challenge to the Bharatiya Janta Party in the state.
The dharna
Tensions had arisen after violent incidents took place in the run-up to the ULB elections. The Trinamool Congress alleged that several people suffered injuries after an attack on the residence of its Tripura unit’s steering committee chief Subal Bhowmick in the Bhagaban Thakur Chowmuni area of Agartala on 21st November.
The Trinamool Congress Member of Parliament sat on a dharna in the national capital against the arrest of the Trinamool Youth Congress chief by Tripura police.
