Tripura Civic Bypolls: BJP Wins 66 Of 67 Seats; Many CPM, Congress Candidates Set To Lose Deposits 

BJP has swept 66 of the 67 seats during the civic byelections while the remaining one seat left was won by the CPM, Times of India reports citing the State Election Commission (SEC).

BJP candidates won all four wards of the 49-member Agartala Municipal Corporation (AMC). They convincingly defeated the two main opposition parties- CPM and Congress, who were struggling and are far behind BJP in the vote share.

The only seat won by CPM candidate was from Panisagar Municipal Council, while BJP candidates were declared triumphant in rest of the ten seats in the 11-member civic body.

After the voting, which saw a turnout of 81.36 per cent on Thursday (27 December), opposition parties, CPM, Congress and Trinamool had all accused BJP of using their supporters to inflict violence and rigging the elections. The BJP denied the charges and said that the opposition parties had joined together to harm the ruling party.

The BJP State President and Chief Minister, Biplab Kumar Deb, said that the results show that people still have faith in the BJP-IPFT led government. “The people living in civic bodies want the good work taken by the government to continue in their areas too,” Deb adds.

Pabitra Kar, the state committee member, alleged, “There was absolutely no reason to conduct byelections which has become a farce process. The BJP-IPFT government could have been selected their leaders for the vacant Wards after elected CPM members were forced to resign since the new government came to power.”