Tripura Elections: 9 Candidates Vie for East Tripura Seat on Lok Sabha Polls

AGARTALA: Nine candidates, including those from the BJP, CPIM, and the Indigenous Nationalist Party of Tripura (INPT), are set to contest in the East (ST) parliamentary constituency.

Their nominations were found valid during the scrutiny held on Friday, April 5.

The Returning Officer of the East (ST) parliamentary constituency, Saju Wahid, told the reporters that they had received 14 forms from 9 candidates during their scrutiny process.

Wahid said that they had received 14 forms from 9 candidates, and all 14 were accepted. The BJP submitted 4 forms, and the CPIM candidate submitted 3. This means that 9 candidates and nine forms were accepted.

He further added that Amra Bangli submitted forms, but since it’s not a registered party, they will be contesting independently. So, there will be six independent candidates.

The Returning Officer also said that there was a complaint from CPIM about a false affidavit, but it was dismissed.

Kriti Singh Debbarma from the BJP and Rajendra Reang from CPIM will be competing for the seat.

Meanwhile, 18 candidates, including two women, are running for Tripura’s two Lok Sabha seats. However, the primary competition is anticipated to be between the ruling BJP and the INDIA bloc candidates.

In the Tripura West Lok Sabha seat, which will go to the polls on April 19, nine candidates are in the fray. They include BJP nominee and former Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb and Congress state President Asish Kumar Saha, the consensus candidate of the INDIA bloc.

Most of the 18 candidates, including those of BJP and INDIA bloc, are contesting the Lok Sabha elections for the first time.

In the 2019 parliamentary elections, there were 23 candidates, including three women, and the BJP's Pratima Bhowmik (Tripura West) and Rebati Tripura (Tripura East-ST) emerged as the winners. However, both of them are not contesting this time.

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