Image Courtesy: Twitter
The Tripura Election Commission published the timetable for the assembly elections on Wednesday. Tripura, where the BJP is now in power, has elections on February 16. The vote will be counted on March 2. Tripura’s assembly session will end on March 22, 2023.
Schedule for GE to the Legislative Assemblies of Meghalaya, Nagaland & Tripura.#AssemblyElections2023 #ECI pic.twitter.com/nZLJtADBMz
— Election Commission of India #SVEEP (@ECISVEEP) January 18, 2023
The Tripura Legislative Assembly has 80 members. The BJP-Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura (IPFT) coalition dominated the 2018 Tripura assembly elections, obtaining a two-thirds majority in the 60-member House and ending the state’s 25-year-long Left rule.
The BJP won 35 of the 60 seats available, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) got 16, the IPFT got 8, and the Congress got none.
Tripura will have 3,328 voting booths across the state.
Tripura Assembly Elections 2023
This time, an incumbent BJP will face a triangular struggle with the Left-Congress coalition and the Trinamool Congress. The BJP has 34 MLAs in the 60-member assembly, while its ally IPFT has five.
Biplab Dev became chief minister following the BJP’s election in the state, however he was ousted in May 2022 due to poor performance. The party then picked Dr. Manik Saha as the next chief minister. Saha also confronts the issue of bridging the widening schisms within the state unit.
On the other side, the Left and the Congress have joined forces in Tripura, as they did unsuccessfully in West Bengal in 2021, to defeat the BJP.
While the BJP intends to maintain its alliance with the tribal-based party IPFT, new entrant Tipra Motha, led by Tripura royal family scion and former Congress leader Pradyot Bikram Manikya Deb Barma, is anticipated to play an important role this year.
The Trinamool Congress is likewise attempting to extend its presence in the state. TMC president and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has visited Tripura and will return when the campaign heats up. TMC, led by north-east in-charge Sushmita Dev, intends to put up a strong fight this time in its quest to grow the party outside Bengal.
Here’s a breakdown of the election schedule in Tripura:
Date of issue of notification: Jan 21
Last date for filing nomination: Jan 20
Date of scrutiny: Jan 31
Last date of withdrawal of nomination: Feb 2
Date of poll: Feb 16
Date of counting: March 2