Tripura Assembly By-Elections 2023: Stage Set for Bypolls to Dhanpur and Boxanagar Assembly Seats in Sepahijala District on Tuesday

Agartala, September 4: The stage is set for the bypolls to Dhanpur and Boxanagar assembly seats in Tripura's Sepahijala district, which will witness a straight fight between the ruling BJP and opposition CPI(M) on Tuesday. All polling booths will be manned by central paramilitary forces, while Tripura State Rifles personnel will be deployed outside them to maintain strict security, an official said. Dhanpur assembly constituency has 59 booths and Boxanagar has 51. "All necessary arrangements have been made for conducting free, fair and peaceful elections," Additional Chief Electoral Officer UG Mog told PTI.

The international border has been sealed to prevent any intrusion from Bangladesh as both constituencies share a boundary with the neighbouring country, a senior police officer said, adding that there will be adequate security to ensure peaceful voting. BJP's Tafajjal Hussain, who unsuccessfully contested the last assembly election from Boxanagar, is set to take on CPI(M) nominee Mizan Hussain. The Boxanagar assembly segment has 66 per cent minority voters of a total of 43,087 electors. In the last assembly elections held in February, the CPI(M) managed to retain the seat. Boxanagar, Dhanpur Assembly By-Elections 2023: From Date of Polling To Result and List of Candidates, Know Everything About Tripura Vidhan Sabha Bypolls

The Dhanpur assembly constituency, once considered a stronghold of the Left, will witness a fight between BJP's Bindu Debnath and Kaushik Debnath of CPI(M). There are 50,346 eligible voters. The BJP won the seat for the first time in the poll held seven months ago. The Congress and the Tripra Motha did not field their candidates in the two seats for the bypolls. The bypoll to the Boxanagar constituency was necessitated due to the death of CPI(M) MLA Samsul Haque. Union Minister Pratima Bhoumik's resignation as the MLA of Dhanpur necessitated the by-election to that seat. Tripura Assembly By-Elections 2023: EC Team Holds Meetings in Tripura To Review Preparations for Bypolls on September 5

Tripura BJP chief spokesperson Subrata Chakraborty said the ruling party is confident of winning both seats with a big margin as its "support base has increased substantially since 2018". However, former Tripura chief minister and veteran CPI(M) leader Manik Sarkar said the BJP's vote share in the state has "reduced from 51 per cent in 2018 to 39 per cent in the last assembly elections". The saffron party's seat count has also slipped from 46 to 33 during the period, he added.

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