Tripura Assembly Election 2023: BJP on course to retain power, reaches halfway mark in latest trends

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was on course to retain power in Tripura as the party reached the halfway mark in the latest trends amid the ongoing counting of votes on Thursday. According to the latest data shared by the Election Commission at 11.30 am, the BJP was leading in 31 seats while the CPIM-Congress alliance was leading in 16 seats (11& 5 seats respectively). The Tipra Motha Party is leading in 11 seats.

Chief Minister Manik Saha, who is contesting from the Town Bardowali constituency, led Congress' Asish Kumar Saha by 1,321 votes. Manik Saha secured 16,446 votes by 11.30 am, with his vote share at 50.15 percent.

READ | Tripura Assembly Election 2023: Here's the full list of Constituency-wise winning candidates

Congress candidate Satyaban Das was leading in the Pabiachara constituency against BJP`s Bhagaban Chandra Das by 90 votes.CPI(M) candidate Nayan Sarkar was leading from the Bamutia constituency against Krishnadhan Das by 12 votes.

The counting of votes began at 8 am today. In Tripura where the BJP created history in 2018 by wresting the state from Left parties, the exit polls predicted that the BJP will be ahead of its rivals or get a majority.

The Commission has made elaborate security arrangements to ensure a smooth counting process. A three-tier security arrangement has been made with the required the deployment of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Tripura State Rifle (TRS), and Tripura Police. Sufficient security arrangements are there besides round-the-clock patrolling by 30 vehicles in which CRPF officers would be there."Counting of votes will take place at 21 counting centres. 

The EC has deployed 60 election observers. 

The Northeast state saw a triangular contest as Congress and CPIM, which have been arch rivals for years, stitched a pre-poll alliance to defeat the ruling BJP. While the BJP which is looking to retain the power contested in alliance with the Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT) and the Tipra Motha which is being seen as a kingmaker in case of a hung assembly scenario, emerged as an influential regional party floated by the royal scion Pradyot Kishore Debbarma in 2021.

READ | Vote counting begins in Tripura, Meghalaya, Nagaland: BJP confident about retaining power, check 10 big developments

In the 60-member Tripura assembly, the majority mark is 30 and the exit polls predicted a clear edge for the BJP over its rivals in the state. The BJP, which had never won a single seat in Tripura before 2018, stormed to power in the last election in alliance with IPFT and ousted the Left Front which had been in power in the border state for 35 years since 1978.

The BJP contested 55 seats and its ally, IPFT, on six seats. But both allies had fielded candidates in the Ampinagar constituency in the Gomati district. The Left contested 47 and Congress on 13 seats, respectively. Of the total 47 seats, the CPM contested 43 seats while the Forward Bloc, Communist Party of India (CPI), and Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) contested one seat each.

BJP won 36 seats in the assembly and got 43.59 percent of the votes in the 2018 election. The CPI (M) won 16 seats with a 42.22 percent vote share. The IPFT won eight seats and Congress could not open its account.

The CPI-M-led Left Front ruled the state for nearly four decades, with a gap between 1988 and 1993 when the Congress was in power but now both parties joined hands intending to oust BJP from power.