Agartala, February 15: Assembly polls in Tripura on Thursday will witness some key contests with the Left parties and Congress joining hands to give a tough contest to BJP and Tipra Motha is also seeking to put up a strong challenge. Trinamool Congress has also put up candidates on several seats.

A total of 259 candidates, including 20 women, are in the fray. The counting of votes will be done on March 2. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is contesting the polls in alliance with the Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura (IPFT). BJP has fielded candidates in 55 constituencies while IPFT is contesting six seats. Tripura Assembly Elections 2023: State To Go to Polls on February 16 in High-Stakes Contest, Over 28 Lakh Voters Eligible To Exercise Franchise.

BJP has fielded 12 women candidates. The Left Front is contesting 47 seats and Congress is contesting 13 seats. Trinamool Congress is contesting 28 seats and there are 58 independent candidates.

Chief Minister Manik Saha is contesting the polls from Town Borodowali. Congress has fielded Ashish Kumar Saha against him. Manik Saha replaced Biplab Kumar Deb as chief minister in May last year.

Deputy Chief Minister Jishnu Dev Varma is contesting from Charilam seat. Tripura BJP state president Rajiv Bhattacharjee is contesting from Banamalipur constituency. Former CM Biplab Deb earlier represented the seat. CPI(M) state general secretary Jitendra Choudhury is contesting from Sabroom constituency.

The BJP has fielded Union Minister Pratima Bhoumik from Dhanpur constituency. Bhoumik is the first woman from Tripura and second woman from the Northeast to become a Union minister. Tipra Motha has fielded Amiya Dayal Noatia against Bhoumik in the seat.

BJP has fielded sitting MLA Pranajit Singh Roy from Radhakishorpur constituency. He is pitted against CPI-ML's Partha Karmakar. BJP's Papiya Dutta will face Congress candidate Sudip Roy Barman in Agartala.

In Karbook, CPI(M) candidate Priyamani Debbarma is contesting against BJP's Ashim Tripura and Tipra Motha's Sanjay Manik. BJP won 36 seats in the assembly. The party got 43.59 per cent of the votes. The CPI (M) won 16 seats with 42.22 per cent vote share. The IPFT won eight seats and Congress could not open its account.

According to Election Commission, 28,14,584 electorates of which 14,15,233 are male voters, 13,99,289 are woman voters and 62 are of the third gender, are eligible to cast their votes at 3,337 polling stations. Voting will be held from 7 am to 4 pm.

Adequate security arrangements have been made for the polls. All poll personnel have reached their polling booths. The BJP had stormed to power in the last election in alliance with IPFT and had ousted the Left Front which had been in power in the border state for 35 years since 1978.

The BJP is expecting to improve its performance. Party's top leaders including Prime Minster Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and party chief JP Nadda campaigning in the state. Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adiyanath also campaigned in the state.

CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, and senior party leaders Brinda Karat, Prakash Karat, Mohammad Salim and former Chief Minister Manik Sarkar campaigned for the party in Tripura. Congress campaigners included party leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Dipa Dasmunshi and Ajoy Kumar.

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