The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) emerged victorious by winning 32 seats out of the 60-member assembly in Tripura, hence securing its return to power in the northeastern state for the second term.
According to the Election Commission of India (ECI), the BJP won in 32 seats while the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT) secured one seat.
Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha won the Town Bardowali constituency, defeating Congress candidate Asish Kumar Saha with a margine of 1257 votes. The incumbent Chief Minister received 19,586 votes.
He got 49.77 per cent votes, while his close contender Congress' Asish Kumar bagged 18,329 votes (46.58 percent) of the total vote share. Manik Saha collected his winning certificate as he won the election.
"I am feeling good and after winning I am getting this certificate so what can be better than this," he said earlier on Thursday.
The debutant Tipra Motha, led by the royal scion Pradyot Kishore Manikya Debbarma, made an impressive debut by winning in 13 seats. On the other hand, the CPI (M) won 11 seats and Congress managed to win 3 seats.
The BJP, which had never won a single seat in Tripura before 2018, 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.
In the 60-member Tripura assembly, the majority mark is 30 and the exit polls predicted a clear edge for the BJP over its rivals in the state.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his gratitude to the people of Tripura for BJP’s victory in the state.
Taking to twitter, he wrote, “Thank you Tripura! This is a vote for progress and stability. @BJP4Tripura will continue to boost the state's growth trajectory. I am proud of all Tripura BJP Karyakartas for their spectacular efforts at the grassroots.”
