2018 Tripura Legislative Assembly election

2018 assembly elections in Tripura From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

2018 Tripura Legislative Assembly election

The 2018 Tripura Legislative Assembly election was held on 18 February for 59 of the state's 60 constituencies.[3] The counting of votes took place on 3 March 2018. With 43.59% of the vote, the BJP secured a majority of seats (36) and subsequently formed the government with Biplab Kumar Deb as Chief Minister. The former governing Left Front alliance while receiving 44.35% of the vote secured only 16 seats.

Quick Facts 60 seats in the Tripura Legislative Assembly 31 seats needed for a majority, Turnout ...
2018 Tripura Legislative Assembly election

 2013 18 February 2018 2023 

60 seats in the Tripura Legislative Assembly
31 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Turnout91.38% ( 2.19 pp)
  Majority party Minority party Third party
 
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Leader Biplab Kumar Deb Manik Sarkar Pradyot Manikya
Party BJP CPI(M) INC
Alliance NDA LF UPA
Leader since 2016 1998 2017
Leader's seat Banamalipur Dhanpur Did not contest
Last election 1.54%, 0 seat 51.63%, 49 seats 36.53%, 10 seats
Seats won 36[1][2] 16[1][2] 0
Seat change 36 33 10
Popular vote 1,025,673 1,043,640 42,100
Percentage 43.59% 44.35% 1.79%
Swing 41.5 pp 5.51 pp 34.73 pp

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Structure of the Tripura Legislative Assembly after the election

Chief Minister before election

Manik Sarkar
CPI(M)

Elected Chief Minister

Biplab Kumar Deb
BJP

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Background

Summarize
Perspective

The term of the Tripura Legislative Assembly ended on 6 March 2018.[4] Having governed Tripura since the 1998 election, the ruling Left Front alliance, under Chief Minister Manik Sarkar, sought re-election. Meanwhile, the region in general had been under the political control of the CPI(M) for 25 years prior to the election, leading to the region being dubbed a "red holdout"[5] even when the 34-year uninterrupted rule of a CPI(M)-led alliance of Communist parties in West Bengal, the world's longest democratically elected Communist-led government, came to an end in 2011.

Their primary challengers came in the form of the Bharatiya Janata Party, which under the leadership of Narendra Modi was the governing party of India on a national level.[6] The BJP is a Hindu nationalist party, whose policies directly oppose those of the Communists.[7] However, the party claimed no seats, and a mere 1.5% of the vote, in the region's previous election.[8] Once considered a political pariah in Northeast India due to its significant Christian tribal population & the party's association with the Sangh Parivar (which aimed to achieve Hindu unity by achieving a Hindi belt centric cultural homogenisation), the BJP following its victory in the 2014 general elections had swiflty formed a coalition of Northeast-centric smaller parties within its larger national coalition to challenge the Congress hold over the region. BJP's first breakthrough in Northeast India came with its victory in Assam's legislative assembly elections in 2016 over issues of Muslim appeasement & an alleged demographic change caused by uncontrolled illegal infiltration of Bengali Muslims from Bangladesh. The Bengali Hindu majority of Tripura, whose forefathers had migrated to the state during Partition of Bengal to escape persecution by Bengali Muslims in East Bengal & had been constantly bickering with the Kokborok-speaking native Tripuri population which had led to incidents of bloodshed like the Mandai massacre deeply resonated with BJP's campaign against illegal infiltration of Bangladeshi Muslims. BJP's alliance with the Tripuri outfit Indigenous People's Front of Tripura also drew Tripuri votes to itself.

BJP built up its organisation in the state by engineering defections from the Left Front & Trinamool Congress (which in turn was engineering defections from the Congress based on dissatisfaction of local cadre with the party's decision to ally with CPI(M) in 2016 West Bengal legislative assembly election, a notable defector being Sudip Ray Barman). Despite the relatively small size of the state, the election took on additional significance on a national level as it was an acid test to gauge the successes of the BJP ahead of the following year's general election,[9] and a chance to strip the communists, the party's "primary ideological enemy", of its last stronghold.[5]

Prior to the election, a number of workers of the BJP were murdered. The BJP alleged that the murders were committed by CPI(M) members, which the party denies.[10][11][12]


With loosing this state, the CPI(M) party had only Kerala left under its rule in India.

Schedule

The Election Commission of India announced that the Legislative Assembly elections in Tripura would be held on 18 February 2018 and the results would be announced on 3 March 2018.[13]

Event Date Day
Date for nominations24 Jan 2018Wednesday
Last date for filing nominations31 Jan 2018Wednesday
Date for scrutiny of nominations1 Feb 2018Thursday
Last date for withdrawal of candidatures3 Feb 2018Saturday
Date of poll18 Feb 2018Sunday
Date of counting3 Mar 2018Saturday
Date before which the election shall be completed5 Mar 2018Monday

Electoral process changes

VVPAT-fitted EVMs was used in entire Tripura state in all polling stations in the 2018 elections, which was the first time that the entire state saw the implementation of VVPAT.[14]

The election took place in a single phase on 18 February 2018 with 89.8% voter turnout.[15] The results were announced on 3 March 2018.

Contesting parties

297 candidates registered to contest the election.

Campaign

The other major force in the election was the Indian National Congress, who had taken 36.5% of the popular vote in the region in 2013.[16] They are also, on a wider scale, the largest force in opposing Modi and the BJP in parliament. As such, Rahul Gandhi, in his capacity as the party's leader, campaigned in the region.[17] They were determined to prevent the BJP from seizing control on the region, as such an outcome would represent the "demise of the Left".[18]

Prime Minister Narendra Modi ended his campaign by stating that Tripura deserves a diamond but in order to get it, it must let go of the manik ('semi-precious stone' in Bengali, also a word play on the name of incumbent CM Manik Sarkar) stuck to it.[19]

Exit Polls

More information Polling firm, Date published ...
Polling firm Date published
BJP+ CPI(M)+ INC Others
JanKiBaat-NewsX[20] 27 January 2018 35-45 14–23 - -
CVoter[20] 27 January 2018 24–32 26-34 0–2 -
AxisMyIndia[20] 27 January 2018 44-50 9–15 - 0–3
Dinraat[21] 27 January 2018 10-19 40-49
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Results

Summarize
Perspective

The incumbent Left Front government was defeated after 25 years of office out of which Manik Sarkar served for about 20 years, with the Bharatiya Janata Party and Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura winning a large majority of seats. The Indian National Congress, which was the second largest party in the 2013 election, lost all its seats and most of its vote share.

Results by party

More information Parties and coalitions, Popular vote ...
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Parties and coalitions Popular vote Seats
Votes % ±pp Contested Won +/−
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) 1,025,673 43.59% 51 36 Increase36
Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM) 993,605 42.22% 57 16 Decrease33
Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura (IPFT) 173,603 7.38% 9 8 Increase8
Indian National Congress (INC) 42,100 1.79% 59 0 Decrease10
Communist Party of India (CPI) 19,352 0.82% 1 0 Decrease1
Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) 17,568 0.75% 1 0 Steady
Indigenous Nationalist Party of Twipra (INPT) 16,940 0.72% 15 0 Steady
All India Forward Bloc (AIFB) 13,115 0.56% 1 0 Steady
All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) 6,989 0.3% 24 0 Steady
Independents (IND) 25 0 Steady
Other parties and coalitions 0 Steady
None of the Above (NOTA) 24,220 1.03%
Total 2,353,246 100.00 60 ±0
Valid votes 23,53,246 99.81
Invalid votes 4,474 0.19
Votes cast / turnout 23,57,720 91.38
Abstentions 2,22,393 8.62
Registered voters 25,80,113
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Results by constituency

More information Assembly Constituency, Turnout ...
  • Winner, runner-up, voter turnout, and victory margin in every constituency[22]
Assembly Constituency Turnout Winner Runner Up Margin
#k Names % Candidate Party Votes % Candidate Party Votes %
1Simna91.92%Brishaketu DebbarmaIPFT15,97748.15%Pranab DebbarmaCPI(M)14,01442.23%1,963
2Mohanpur93.53%Ratan Lal NathBJP22,51654.43%Subhas Chandra DebnathCPI(M)17,34041.91%5,176
3Bamutia94.29%Krishnadhan DasBJP20,01449.15%Haricharan SarkarCPI(M)19,04246.76%972
4Barjala92.76%Dr. Dilip Kumar DasBJP22,05255.42%Jhumu SarkarCPI(M)15,82539.77%6,227
5Khayerpur94.37%Ratan ChakrabortyBJP25,49655.86%Pabitra KarCPI(M)18,45740.44%7,039
6Agartala90.73%Sudip Roy BarmanBJP25,23455.47%Krishna MajumderCPI(M)17,85239.24%7,382
7Ramnagar88.44%Surajit DattaBJP21,09253.51%Ratan DasCPI(M)16,23741.19%4,855
8Town Bordowali85.97%Ashish Kumar SahaBJP24,29360.33%Biswanath SahaAIFB13,11532.57%11,178
9Banamalipur87.37%Biplab Kumar DebBJP21,75559.89%Amal ChakrabortyCPI(M)12,20633.6%9,549
10Majlishpur94.76%Sushanta ChowdhuryBJP23,24952.41%Manik DeyCPI(M)19,35943.64%3,890
11Mandaibazar91.13%Dhirendra DebbarmaIPFT21,38151.94%Manoranjan DebbarmaCPI(M)15,51737.7%5,864
12Takarjala88.23%Narendra Chandra DebbarmaIPFT22,05661.9%Ramendra DebbarmaCPI(M)9,40426.39%12,652
13Pratapgarh94.86%Rebati Mohan DasBJP25,83451.1%Ramu DasCPI(M)22,68644.87%3,148
14Badharghat92.1%Dilip SarkarBJP28,56152.86%Jharna Das(Baidya)CPI(M)23,11342.78%5,448
15Kamalasagar93.09%Narayan Chandra ChowdhuryCPI(M)18,84749.99%Arun BhowmikBJP16,96845.%1,879
16Bishalgarh94.04%Bhanu Lal SahaCPI(M)21,25448.43%Nitai ChowdhuryBJP20,48846.68%766
17Golaghati93.46%Birendra Kishore DebbarmaBJP19,22852.62%Kesab DebbarmaCPI(M)15,73043.05%3,498
18Suryamaninagar94.47%Ram Prasad PaulBJP24,87452.78%Rajkumar ChowdhuryCPI(M)20,30743.09%4,567
19Charilam80.55%Jishnu Dev VarmaBJP26,58090.81%Palash DebbarmaCPI(M)1,0303.52%25,550
20Boxanagar90.85%Sahid ChowdhuryCPI(M)19,86257.69%Baharul Islam MajumderBJP11,84734.41%8,015
21Nalchar94.48%Subhash Chandra DasBJP19,26148.48%Tapan Chandra DasCPI(M)18,81047.34%451
22Sonamura90.95%Shyamal ChakrabortyCPI(M) 19,27551.65%Subal BhowmikBJP15,84342.46%3,432
23Dhanpur92.62%Manik SarkarCPI(M)22,17654.43%Pratima BhoumikBJP16,73541.08%5,441
24Ramchandraghat92.11%Prasanta DebbarmaIPFT19,43953.3%Padma Kumar DebbarmaCPI(M)15,20441.69%4,235
25Khowai95.55%Nirmal BiswasCPI(M)20,62951.57%Amit RakshitBJP17,89344.73%2,736
26Asharambari91.77%Mevar Kumar JamatiaIPFT19,18857.34%Aghore DebbarmaCPI(M)12,20136.46%6,987
27Kalyanpur–Pramodenagar91.68%Pinaki Das ChowdhuryBJP20,29352.01%Manindra Chandra DasCPI(M)17,15243.96%3,141
28Teliamura89.98%Kalyani Saha RoyBJP22,07756.37%Gouri DasCPI(M)14,89838.04%7,179
29Krishnapur91.8%Atul DebbarmaBJP16,73051.21%Khagendra JamatiaCPI(M)14,73545.11%1,995
30Bagma91.42%Ram Pada JamatiaBJP24,07450.85%Naresh Chandra JamatiaCPI(M)21,24144.87%2,833
31Radhakishorpur92.36%Pranjit Singha RoyBJP22,41452.54%Srikanta DattaRSP17,56841.18%4,846
32Matarbari92.69%Biplab Kumar GhoshBJP23,06949.79%Madhab Chandra SahaCPI(M)21,50046.4%1,569
33Kakraban–Salgarh92.58%Ratan Kumar BhowmikCPI(M)24,83552.95%Jitendra MajumderBJP 21,06844.92%3,767
34Rajnagar91.%Sudhan DasCPI(M)22,00455.28%Bibhishan Chandra DasBJP16,29140.93%5,713
35Belonia94.05%Arun Chandra BhaumikBJP19,30748.45%Basudev MajumderCPI(M)18,55446.56%753
36Santirbazar93.22%Pramod ReangBJP21,70150.88%Manindra ReangCPI19,35245.37%2,349
37Hrishyamukh93.4%Badal ChowdhuryCPI(M)22,67355.84%Ashesh BaidyaBJP16,34340.25%6,330
38Jolaibari94.32%Jashabir TripuraCPI(M)21,16049.59%Ankya Mog ChowdhuryBJP19,59245.92%1,568
39Manu94.35%Pravat ChowdhuryCPI(M)19,43247.62%Dhananjoy TripuraIPFT19,23947.15%193
40Sabroom93.72%Sankar RoyBJP21,05950.64%Rita Kar MajumderCPI(M)18,87745.39%2,182
41Ampinagar90.69%Sindhu Chandra JamatiaIPFT18,20253.47%Daniel JamatiaCPI(M)13,25538.94%4,947
42Amarpur94.05%Ranjit DasBJP18,97048.87%Parimal DebnathCPI(M)17,95446.25%1,016
43Karbook92.02%Burba Mohan TripuraBJP15,62248.86%Priyamani DebbarmaCPI(M)14,82546.37%797
44Raima Valley91.07%Dhananjoy TripuraIPFT18,67346.93%Lalit Mohan TripuraCPI(M)16,75142.1%1,922
45Kamalpur90.68%Manoj Kanti DebBJP20,16552.11%Bijoy Laxmi SinghaCPI(M)17,20644.46%2,959
46Surma90.43%Ashis DasBJP20,76751.48%Anjan DasCPI(M)18,05744.76%2,710
47Ambassa91.01%Parimal DebbarmaBJP20,84249.42%Bharat ReangCPI(M)17,25740.92%3,585
48Karamcherra90.03%Diba Chandra HrangkhawlBJP19,39755.59%Umakanta TripuraCPI(M)12,06134.57%7,336
49Chawamanu89.69%Sambhu Lal ChakmaBJP18,29052.3%Nirajoy TripuraCPI(M)14,53541.56%3,755
50Pabiachhara91.11%Bhagaban DasBJP22,81554.53%Samiran MalakarCPI(M)16,98840.6%5,827
51Fatikroy89.67%Sudhangshu DasBJP19,51251.39%Tunubala MalakarCPI(M)16,68343.94%2,829
52Chandipur90.22%Tapan ChakrabortyCPI(M)18,54547.48%Kaberi SinghaBJP18,14346.45%402
53Kailashahar86.39%Moboshar AliCPI(M)18,09345.02%Nitish DeBJP13,25932.99%4,834
54Kadamtala–Kurti88.28%Islam UddinCPI(M)20,72156.84%Tinku RoyBJP13,83937.96%6,882
55Bagbassa86.74%Bijita NathCPI(M)18,00148.09%Pradip Kumar NathBJP17,73147.37%270
56Dharmanagar88.38%Biswa Bandhu SenBJP21,35757.21%Abhijit DeCPI(M)14,07037.69%7,287
57Jubarajnagar90.59%Ramendra Chandra DebnathCPI(M)18,14748.54%Jadab Lal DebnathBJP17,49846.8%649
58Panisagar89.5%Binay Bhushan DasBJP15,89248.54%Ajit Kumar DasCPI(M)15,33146.83%561
59Pencharthal89.05%Santana ChakmaBJP17,74349.38%Anil ChakmaCPI(M)16,37045.56%1,373
60Kanchanpur88.18%Prem Kumar ReangIPFT19,44851.76%Rajendra Reang (Tripura politician)CPI(M)15,31740.76%4,131
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Highlights

No. of constituencies

More information Type of Constituencies, GEN ...
Type of Constituencies GEN SC ST Total
No. of Constituencies 30 10 20 60
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Electors

More information Men, Women ...
Men Women Third gender Total
No.of Electors 1,311,983 1,268,119 11 2,580,113
No.of Electors who Voted 1,146,889 1,159,086 2 2,305,977
Polling Percentage 87.42% 91.40% 18.00% 89.38%
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Performance of women candidates

More information Men, Women ...
Men Women Total
No.of Contestants 273 24 297
Elected 57 03 60
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[23]

Reactions

Summarize
Perspective

The BJP chose Biplab Kumar Deb to be the next Chief Minister. He said: "I am ready to take the responsibility. I will not run away from taking the responsibility. I have already been given a bigger responsibility, the party's state presidentship, which I have been fulfilling to the best of my ability. People responded favourably to our call 'Chalo Paltai' (let's change)." He claimed that having the same party in the central government and at the state level "helps in faster development." He further called for restraint in post-electoral violence: "We do not believe in the politics of vengeance and hatred, so we appeal to the people to maintain peace and calm." In addition he asserted that "the word development does not exist in the dictionary of the CPI-M. Our government will provide good governance and time-bound implementation of all developmental works."[24]

Former Chief Minister of Kerala and senior CPI(M) leader V. S. Achuthanandan called for the party's leadership to ally with "secular forces" to defeat the Sangh Parivar: "The country is facing serious challenges. The Congress, which had ruled for decades in the post-independence period, has become weaker now. He supported party General Secretary Sitaram Yechury's call for an "understanding" with the INC as "a tactical move with secular forces was necessary."[25] The party's provincial minister claimed that the BJP had "misused" money and power at the central government in winning the election and that the "challenge to the democracy and the national integrity." Another CPM figure M. V. Jayarajan, private secretary to Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, claimed that the INC voters and leaders were moving towards the BJP and that the result should "not be viewed lightly and all the patriots in the country have the responsibility to check and isolate any effort of the communal forces gaining strength in the country.[25] Politburo member M. A. Baby said that while the result was "unexpected", he did "respect the verdict of the people." He added: "However, there is a decline of 6-7 per cent vote share of the Left front. It's a concern...how the erosion has taken place and why this happened will be dispassionately examined by the party in Tripura and the national leadership."[26]

Assam Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma derogatorily called for Manik Sarkar to be deported to Bangladesh[27] following CPI(M)'s defeat after it was revealed that in spite of being in power for 20 years, Sarkar didn't own a home in his name.[28] Sarma had also made the same comments during campaign,[29] which represents the long-standing hatred & disdain of the Assamese Hindu population towards both Bengali Muslims & Bengali Hindus.

BJP's victory in a Communist-ruled state having a Bengali Hindu majority (who had been long stereotyped of being largely averse to Hindu right wing ideology) had possible implications for the political scenario of West Bengal, as it represented the rising acceptability of BJP to the Bengali Hindu society at the cost of the decline of Communist ideology.

On 5th March 2018, 2 days after declaration of the polling results, a colossal statue of Vladimir Lenin installed by the Communist government in 2013 at Belonia was razed to the ground using a bulldozer by a mob of jubilant BJP supporters.[30] On the next day, a similar incident of BJP supporters demolishing another Lenin's statue was reported at Sabroom.[31]

Charilam bypoll

Polling for the seat of Charilam was postponed to 12 March 2018 after the death of Communist Party of India (Marxist) incumbent candidate Ramendra Narayan Debbarma. The CPI(M) withdrew their candidate for the bypoll claiming that there was an increase in violence.[citation needed]

Despite this, the CPI(M) candidate continued to be present on the ballot paper, and subsequently lost their deposit.[32][33]

More information Party, Candidate ...
Tripura Legislative Assembly Bypoll, 2018: Charilam[34]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
BJP Jishnu Dev Varma 26,580 90.81
CPI(M) Palash Debbarma 1030 3.51
INC Arjun Debbarma 775 2.64
INPT Uma Shankar Debbarma 685 2.34
Independent Jyotilal Debbarma 198 0.67 N/A
Majority 25,550 87.29
Turnout
Registered electors
BJP gain from CPI(M) Swing
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See also

References

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