Tripura: BJP and their ally IPFT (Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura) suffered a shocking defeat on Saturday in the 2021 Tribal Council Polls in Tripura.
Pradyot Deb Burman led TIPRA (The Indigenous Progressive Regional Alliance), a new political outfit swept the Tripura Autonomous District Council polls by securing 18 out of 28 seats. The BJP and its ally managed to win only nine seats and the remaining one seat was won by an independent candidate. The Left front which emerged victorious in the last election failed to win any seats and so did the Indian National Congress.
TIPRA is led my Pradyot Deb Burman, the former Tripura chief of the Indian National Congress and a member of the Tripura royal family. He resigned from the INC in September owing to the differences in their approach towards handling the anti-CAA protests.
The Tripura Autonomous District Council assembly consists of 30 seats out of which 28 members are elected and the remaining two members are nominated by the governor of the state. The 30 seats are spread across 20 Vidhan Sabha asssembly segments.
In the last Autonomous District Council elections which was held in May 2015, the Left Front emerged victorious as they swept they swept the elections winning 25 seats.
On Friday, BJP leader and the convener of NEDA (North East Democratic Alliance) Himanta Biswa Sarma confidently claimed that the people of Tripura are content with the performance of the BJP government and that BJP will easily emerge victorious in the 28-member Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council. This was an unexpected set back for the Bharatiya Janata Party and its ally.
A group of unidentified men on Friday allegedly attacked TIPRA leaders and candidates as they visited the office of the Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) of Mohanpur during the counting of votes as this office is one of the16 centres where votes are being counted. Mr Deb Burman was also present when the violence occurred. He said that he was assured by Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb and the state's DGP that action would be taken against the culprits. However, Education Minister Ratan Lal Nath later claimed that TIPRA supporters were trying to create problems at the SDM's office.
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