Tripura polls postmortem: CPIM takes aim at TIPRA Motha over decision to contest non-tribal seats, says it led to vote division

Chaudhury also claimed that if a seat-sharing agreement was reached between Left Front and TIPRA Motha, BJP’s overall tally would have been reduced to 9-11 seats. The Communist party, he said, didn’t initially understand the reason for Motha’s decision to field candidates in 22 non-tribal seats. However, after an analysis of poll results, it has now become “crystal clear” in an oblique reference to the tribal party’s role in dividing opposition votes, he added.

Chaudhury announced that CPIM and Congress have collectively decided to continue the seat-sharing adjustment struck before the 2023 state assembly polls. The Congress and Left parties would soon start a renewed movement against “anti-people policies” of the BJP-led government in different parts of the state, he said.

Reacting to the comments, senior TIPRA Motha leader and former MLA Tapas Dey dismissed the allegations and said TIPRA Motha is an independent political party. He added that the party fought the elections alone on its own political ideology of Greater Tipraland. “It is not our responsibility to facilitate the win or defeat of any other political party. Nobody approached us for an alliance or something like that. As a political party, we fought on our own political ideology”, Dey said.

BJP fielded 55 candidates in the poll fray this year and emerged victorious in 32 while its alliance partner Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT) contested in 6 (including a friendly fight in one seat) and won in one constituency. The opposition Left Front fielded 47 candidates and won 11, while the Congress party contested 13 seats and won three.

The assembly polls this year recorded an 89.95 percent voter turnout, including 2.19 percent postal votes.