Tripura CM Manik Saha Wins By-Election From Town Bardowali As Ruling BJP Wins 3 Out Of 4 Seats That Went To Polls

Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha of BJP won the by-election from Town Bardowali seat by 6,104 votes, according to the official results declared by the election commission.

Manik Saha joined the BJP in 2015 and was appointed party’s state unit head in 2020, replacing Biplab Kumar Deb. Saha took over as chief minister in May after Deb resigned on the instructions of the high command ahead of assembly elections in 2023.

Manik Saha was pitted against Congress candidate Ashish Kumar Saha, who incidentally won the seat on a BJP ticket in the 2018 elections.

Elsewhere, Congress stalwart and former minister Sudip Roy Barman won the Agartala seat defeating his nearest rival and BJP candidate Dr Ashok Sinha by a margin of 3,163 votes. Barman won as a BJP candidate in 2018 state assembly elections and served as state health minister under CM Deb. He was later sacked from the cabinet because of his constant opposition to the then CM Deb. The ambitious former Congressman who wanted to become the chief minister, fanned dissidence against Deb and was actively wooed by other parties.

Earlier this year, both Ashish Kumar Saha and Sudip Roy Barman quit the BJP and joined the Congress. Both Ashish Kumar Saha and Sudip Roy Barman were fielded as Congress candidates in the by-elections.

The ruling BJP also won two other seats that went to bypolls. The party wrested theJubarajnagar assembly seat from the opposition Communist Party Of India (Marxist). The party's candidate Malina Debnath won the seat by a margin of 4,572 votes. The by-election was necessitated due to the death of sitting CM legislator Ramendra Chandra Debnath who had won in 2018 assembly polls.

In Surma seat in Dhalai district, BJP candidate Swapna Das Paul has taken an unassailable lead of 5,589 votes at the time of writing. The by-election to this seat was declared after Ashish Das, the sitting BJP legislator, had quit the party to join TMC.