Tripura elections: Nominations close but seat-sharing hitches remain for parties

On Saturday, the BJP announced that IPFT would contest five out of the 60 Assembly seats, while it would contest 55. A day later, the IPFT said it would field six candidates. In the Ampinagar ST-reserved constituency now, BJP state vice-president Patal Kanya Jamatia is pitted against the IPFT’s sitting MLA, Sindhucharan Jamatia. Saha, however, called it a non-issue and said it was being “worked upon”.

Claiming that the CPM-Congress opposition alliance was a “flop show”, he said: “I am not finding any Opposition. The CPM is zero, the Congress is zero, so they will get a zero, what else. They can’t be seen anywhere on the ground.”

Amid reports of feuds over candidate selection, Saha said there were certain “usual jerks” that a “vehicle experiences while travelling” and claimed the BJP would get 50 seats or more.

From the BJP’s side, cooperative minister Ramprasad Paul, BJP state president Rajeeb Bhattacharjee, sitting MLA Surajit Dutta, and Papia Dutta were seen filing nominations at the offices of the Sadar sub-divisional magistrate and other Returning Officers (RO) in the city. Papia will contest her first election against Congress heavyweight Sudip Roy Barman from Agartala.

After submitting his nomination papers, Barman said people would make the “right choice” on polling day.

His comments came amid a tug-of-war between the Congress and the Left Front – comprising the CPI(M), the CPI, the Forward Bloc, the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) and the CPI(ML) — over seats. The Left Front announced 47 candidates from its end and allocated 13 to the Congress after discussions. The Congress, however, went announced it would contest 17 seats.

Clarifying that it was now contesting 16 seats, Barman said he was “hopeful the Left partners would realise the situation and compulsion of the Congress and take necessary action”. Party sources said in the three seats that have not been agreed upon, both sides were hopeful of reaching an understanding to withdraw candidates from either side.

Pradyot Kishore Manikya Debbarma, the chief of the TIPRA Motha, which rules the Autonomous District Council regions of the state, was seen accompanying his party’s Mandainagar constituency candidate Swapna Debbarma to file the nomination papers.

Pradyot, who is not contesting himself, expressed confidence in his party’s prospects. He said, “The question is not whether we shall win or lose. It is rather the margin of our victory.”

He reiterated his demand for a separate Greater Tipraland state for tribals and said the party would fulfil it if it came to power. He added that “development would automatically come” after obtaining the separate state.

“National parties have spoken on development but it never came in 70 years. We have realised unless we shake them, they wouldn’t be shaken,” he said, hinting at his decision to contest alone after talks with the BJP failed to materialise.

Sources across parties insisted that both the ruling and Opposition camps would try to iron out their issues and fix them through withdrawals.

The Trinamool Congress (TMC), which announced a 22-member candidate first list on Sunday was scheduled to announce a second candidate list but did not do so.

Speaking to reporters, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Kiran Dinkarrao Gitte said that 228 nomination papers were received on Monday, making the total number of nominations 305. In the 2018 polls, 297 candidates were in the fray.

The nomination papers would be scrutinised tomorrow, the official said, adding that the final figures, however, would be clear when the nomination withdrawal deadline expires on February 2.

The Election Commission appointed 25 observers to supervise the scrutiny process and three special observers and eight police observers to supervise the polls. As part of its effort to ensure zero poll violence, the CEO said all 305 candidates would be provided security cover.