In Tripura’s multi-cornered bypoll battlefield, CM Saha set to debut from Town Bardowali

The BJP nominated state party vice president Ashok Sinha from the Agartala constituency in the by-election. The Agartala bypoll was necessitated after ex-minister Sudip Roy Barman resigned from the BJP, reportedly after falling out with the then CM Deb, to join the Congress in February this year. He had been representing the constituency for five terms. Ashish Saha, who has been representing Town Bardowali seat in west Tripura for two terms, also quit the BJP to join the Congress along with Barman.

The saffron party also named Swapna Das Paul and Malina Debnath as its candidates, respectively, from Surma seat in Dhalai district and Jubarajnagar in north Tripura. Like CM Saha, Paul would also make her electoral debut. Debnath had earlier fought, unsuccessfully, a local panchayat election in 2014.

The sitting BJP MLA in Surma seat, Ashish Das, had also resigned from the BJP to join the Trinamool Congress (TMC).

The Jubarajnagar seat had fallen vacant as its MLA RC Debnath, the senior Left Front leader and ex-Assembly Speaker, passed away early this year.

The Congress has announced its candidates for two seats so far, fielding Barman and Ashish Saha from their respective constituencies.

The CPI(M) announced its candidates on May 30, nominating Krishna Majumder from Agartala, Raghunath Sarkar from Town Bardowali, Anjan Das from Surma and Shailendra Chandra Nath from Jubarajnagar.

The Trinamool Congress (TMC) also declared its candidates for the bypolls, fielding its state women wing chief Panna Deb from Agartala, Nilkamal Saha from Town Bardowali, Arjun Sarkar from Surma and Mrinal Kanti Debnath from the Jubarajnagar constituency.

Pradyot Kishore Manikya Debbarma, the chief of the Tripura Indigenous Peoples Regional Alliance (TIPRA) Motha party, which rules the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC), has announced that his party would field its contestants in the by-elections, although it has not announced any candidate so far. A significant number of voters in Surma and Jubarajnagar seats are tribals. Pradyot’s moves would be keenly watched. He has maintained that the TIPRA Motha would not join hands with any party unless it agrees to his Greater Tipraland demand in writing.

The bypolls, which are expected to be a fiercely-fought, multi-cornered battle, will be crucial for the BJP, especially CM Saha, as well as the Opposition parties — the Congress, CPI(M)-led Left Front and TMC — as it will set the stage for the Assembly elections slated in February next year.

Saha will face an acid test as he needs to win not only his seat while making debut but also to ensure the faction-riven party’s victory in three other seats to validate the high command’s confidence reposed in him as it brought him as Deb’s replacement 9 months before the Assembly polls.

A BJP spokesperson exuded confidence, saying the party would win the bypolls as the people, he claimed, have continued to be in its favour.

The Opposition parties however charge that “people are fed up with political violence, lack of food and work and absence of good governance under the BJP dispensation and are looking for ways to deliver their mandate accordingly”.

The CPI(M)’s state secretary Jitendra Chaudhury said people will exercise their mandate against the BJP if free and fair bypolls are ensured.

Some political observers maintain that the BJP will have an edge in the bypolls as they usually go in favour of the incumbent party. Some others, however, feel that it may witness a comeback by the Congress or the CPI(M) into the centre stage of the state’s electoral arena.