2018 Tripura Legislative Assembly election

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2018 Tripura Legislative Assembly election
← 2013 18 February 2018 2023 →
60 seats in the Tripura Legislative Assembly
31 seats needed for a majority
Turnout91.38% (Decrease2.19)
  Majority party Minority party Third party
 
Leader Biplab Kumar Deb Manik Sarkar N. C. Debbarma
Party BJP CPI(M) IPFT
Alliance NDA Left Front NDA
Leader since 2016 1998 2009
Leader's seat Banamalipur Dhanpur Takarjala
Last election 0 49 0
Seats won 36[1][2] 16[1][2] 8[1][2]
Seat change Increase36 Decrease33 Increase8
Popular vote 1,025,673 1,043,640 173,603
Percentage 43.59% 44.35% 7.5%
Swing Increase41.5% Decrease5.51% Increase7.38%
Chief Minister before election

Manik Sarkar
CPI(M)

Elected Chief Minister

Biplab Kumar Deb
BJP

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.

Background[edit]

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] Despite the relatively small size of Tripura, 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 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]

Schedule[edit]

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 nominations 24 Jan 2018 Wednesday
Last date for filing nominations 31 Jan 2018 Wednesday
Date for scrutiny of nominations 1 Feb 2018 Thursday
Last date for withdrawal of candidatures 3 Feb 2018 Saturday
Date of poll 18 Feb 2018 Sunday
Date of counting 3 Mar 2018 Saturday
Date before which the election shall be completed 5 Mar 2018 Monday

Electoral process changes[edit]

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[edit]

297 candidates registered to contest the election.

Party Symbol Alliance Seats contested
Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)) Left Front 57
Communist Party of India (CPI) Left Front 1
Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) Left Front 1
All India Forward Bloc (AIFB) Left Front 1
Indian National Congress (INC) UPA 59
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) NDA 51
Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura (IPFT) NDA 9
Independents (IND) 27
Indigenous Nationalist Party of Twipra (INPT) 15
Tripura People's Party 7
Amra Bangali 23
All India Trinamool Congress (AITC)
24
Socialist Unity Centre of India (Communist) 5
Tipraland State Party 9
Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation 5
North East India Development Party 1
Pragatishil Amara Bangali Samaj 1
I.P.F.T Tiprahaa (Independent) 1
Total 297

Campaign[edit]

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.

Exit Polls[edit]

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

Results[edit]

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[edit]

Parties and coalitions Popular vote Seats
Votes % ±pp Contested Won +/−
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) 10,25,673 43.59% 51 36 Increase36
Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM) 9,93,605 42.22% 57 16 Decrease33
Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura (IPFT) 1,73,603 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 23,53,246 100.00 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

Results by constituency[edit]

  • Winner, runner-up, voter turnout, and victory margin in every constituency[21]
Assembly Constituency Turnout Winner Runner Up Margin
#k Names % Candidate Party Votes % Candidate Party Votes %
1 Simna 91.92% Brishaketu Debbarma IPFT 15,977 48.15% Pranab Debbarma CPI(M) 14,014 42.23% 1,963
2 Mohanpur 93.53% Ratan Lal Nath BJP 22,516 54.43% Subhas Chandra Debnath CPI(M) 17,340 41.91% 5,176
3 Bamutia 94.29% Krishnadhan Das BJP 20,014 49.15% Haricharan Sarkar CPI(M) 19,042 46.76% 972
4 Barjala 92.76% Dr. Dilip Kumar Das BJP 22,052 55.42% Jhumu Sarkar CPI(M) 15,825 39.77% 6,227
5 Khayerpur 94.37% Ratan Chakraborty BJP 25,496 55.86% Pabitra Kar CPI(M) 18,457 40.44% 7,039
6 Agartala 90.73% Sudip Roy Barman BJP 25,234 55.47% Krishna Majumder CPI(M) 17,852 39.24% 7,382
7 Ramnagar 88.44% Surajit Datta BJP 21,092 53.51% Ratan Das CPI(M) 16,237 41.19% 4,855
8 Town Bordowali 85.97% Ashish Kumar Saha BJP 24,293 60.33% Biswanath Saha AIFB 13,115 32.57% 11,178
9 Banamalipur 87.37% Biplab Kumar Deb BJP 21,755 59.89% Amal Chakraborty CPI(M) 12,206 33.6% 9,549
10 Majlishpur 94.76% Sushanta Chowdhury BJP 23,249 52.41% Manik Dey CPI(M) 19,359 43.64% 3,890
11 Mandaibazar 91.13% Dhirendra Debbarma IPFT 21,381 51.94% Manoranjan Debbarma CPI(M) 15,517 37.7% 5,864
12 Takarjala 88.23% Narendra Chandra Debbarma IPFT 22,056 61.9% Ramendra Debbarma CPI(M) 9,404 26.39% 12,652
13 Pratapgarh 94.86% Rebati Mohan Das BJP 25,834 51.1% Ramu Das CPI(M) 22,686 44.87% 3,148
14 Badharghat 92.1% Dilip Sarkar BJP 28,561 52.86% Jharna Das(Baidya) CPI(M) 23,113 42.78% 5,448
15 Kamalasagar 93.09% Narayan Chandra Chowdhury CPI(M) 18,847 49.99% Arun Bhowmik BJP 16,968 45.% 1,879
16 Bishalgarh 94.04% Bhanu Lal Saha CPI(M) 21,254 48.43% Nitai Chowdhury BJP 20,488 46.68% 766
17 Golaghati 93.46% Birendra Kishore Debbarma BJP 19,228 52.62% Kesab Debbarma CPI(M) 15,730 43.05% 3,498
18 Suryamaninagar 94.47% Ram Prasad Paul BJP 24,874 52.78% Rajkumar Chowdhury CPI(M) 20,307 43.09% 4,567
19 Charilam 80.55% Jishnu Dev Varma BJP 26,580 90.81% Palash Debbarma CPI(M) 1,030 3.52% 25,550
20 Boxanagar 90.85% Sahid Chowdhury CPI(M) 19,862 57.69% Baharul Islam Majumder BJP 11,847 34.41% 8,015
21 Nalchar 94.48% Subhash Chandra Das BJP 19,261 48.48% Tapan Chandra Das CPI(M) 18,810 47.34% 451
22 Sonamura 90.95% Shyamal Chakraborty CPI(M) 19,275 51.65% Subal Bhowmik BJP 15,843 42.46% 3,432
23 Dhanpur 92.62% Manik Sarkar CPI(M) 22,176 54.43% Pratima Bhoumik BJP 16,735 41.08% 5,441
24 Ramchandraghat 92.11% Prasanta Debbarma IPFT 19,439 53.3% Padma Kumar Debbarma CPI(M) 15,204 41.69% 4,235
25 Khowai 95.55% Nirmal Biswas CPI(M) 20,629 51.57% Amit Rakshit BJP 17,893 44.73% 2,736
26 Asharambari 91.77% Mevar Kumar Jamatia IPFT 19,188 57.34% Aghore Debbarma CPI(M) 12,201 36.46% 6,987
27 Kalyanpur–Pramodenagar 91.68% Pinaki Das Chowdhury BJP 20,293 52.01% Manindra Chandra Das CPI(M) 17,152 43.96% 3,141
28 Teliamura 89.98% Kalyani Saha Roy BJP 22,077 56.37% Gouri Das CPI(M) 14,898 38.04% 7,179
29 Krishnapur 91.8% Atul Debbarma BJP 16,730 51.21% Khagendra Jamatia CPI(M) 14,735 45.11% 1,995
30 Bagma 91.42% Ram Pada Jamatia BJP 24,074 50.85% Naresh Chandra Jamatia CPI(M) 21,241 44.87% 2,833
31 Radhakishorpur 92.36% Pranjit Singha Roy BJP 22,414 52.54% Srikanta Datta RSP 17,568 41.18% 4,846
32 Matarbari 92.69% Biplab Kumar Ghosh BJP 23,069 49.79% Madhab Chandra Saha CPI(M) 21,500 46.4% 1,569
33 Kakraban–Salgarh 92.58% Ratan Kumar Bhowmik CPI(M) 24,835 52.95% Jitendra Majumder BJP 21,068 44.92% 3,767
34 Rajnagar 91.% Sudhan Das CPI(M) 22,004 55.28% Bibhishan Chandra Das BJP 16,291 40.93% 5,713
35 Belonia 94.05% Arun Chandra Bhaumik BJP 19,307 48.45% Basudev Majumder CPI(M) 18,554 46.56% 753
36 Santirbazar 93.22% Pramod Reang BJP 21,701 50.88% Manindra Reang CPI 19,352 45.37% 2,349
37 Hrishyamukh 93.4% Badal Chowdhury CPI(M) 22,673 55.84% Ashesh Baidya BJP 16,343 40.25% 6,330
38 Jolaibari 94.32% Jashabir Tripura CPI(M) 21,160 49.59% Ankya Mog Chowdhury BJP 19,592 45.92% 1,568
39 Manu 94.35% Pravat Chowdhury CPI(M) 19,432 47.62% Dhananjoy Tripura IPFT 19,239 47.15% 193
40 Sabroom 93.72% Sankar Roy BJP 21,059 50.64% Rita Kar Majumder CPI(M) 18,877 45.39% 2,182
41 Ampinagar 90.69% Sindhu Chandra Jamatia IPFT 18,202 53.47% Daniel Jamatia CPI(M) 13,255 38.94% 4,947
42 Amarpur 94.05% Ranjit Das BJP 18,970 48.87% Parimal Debnath CPI(M) 17,954 46.25% 1,016
43 Karbook 92.02% Burba Mohan Tripura BJP 15,622 48.86% Priyamani Debbarma CPI(M) 14,825 46.37% 797
44 Raima Valley 91.07% Dhananjoy Tripura IPFT 18,673 46.93% Lalit Mohan Tripura CPI(M) 16,751 42.1% 1,922
45 Kamalpur 90.68% Manoj Kanti Deb BJP 20,165 52.11% Bijoy Laxmi Singha CPI(M) 17,206 44.46% 2,959
46 Surma 90.43% Ashis Das BJP 20,767 51.48% Anjan Das CPI(M) 18,057 44.76% 2,710
47 Ambassa 91.01% Parimal Debbarma BJP 20,842 49.42% Bharat Reang CPI(M) 17,257 40.92% 3,585
48 Karamcherra 90.03% Diba Chandra Hrangkhawl BJP 19,397 55.59% Umakanta Tripura CPI(M) 12,061 34.57% 7,336
49 Chawamanu 89.69% Sambhu Lal Chakma BJP 18,290 52.3% Nirajoy Tripura CPI(M) 14,535 41.56% 3,755
50 Pabiachhara 91.11% Bhagaban Das BJP 22,815 54.53% Samiran Malakar CPI(M) 16,988 40.6% 5,827
51 Fatikroy 89.67% Sudhangshu Das BJP 19,512 51.39% Tunubala Malakar CPI(M) 16,683 43.94% 2,829
52 Chandipur 90.22% Tapan Chakraborty CPI(M) 18,545 47.48% Kaberi Singha BJP 18,143 46.45% 402
53 Kailashahar 86.39% Moboshar Ali CPI(M) 18,093 45.02% Nitish De BJP 13,259 32.99% 4,834
54 Kadamtala–Kurti 88.28% Islam Uddin CPI(M) 20,721 56.84% Tinku Roy BJP 13,839 37.96% 6,882
55 Bagbassa 86.74% Bijita Nath CPI(M) 18,001 48.09% Pradip Kumar Nath BJP 17,731 47.37% 270
56 Dharmanagar 88.38% Biswa Bandhu Sen BJP 21,357 57.21% Abhijit De CPI(M) 14,070 37.69% 7,287
57 Jubarajnagar 90.59% Ramendra Chandra Debnath CPI(M) 18,147 48.54% Jadab Lal Debnath BJP 17,498 46.8% 649
58 Panisagar 89.5% Binay Bhushan Das BJP 15,892 48.54% Ajit Kumar Das CPI(M) 15,331 46.83% 561
59 Pencharthal 89.05% Santana Chakma BJP 17,743 49.38% Anil Chakma CPI(M) 16,370 45.56% 1,373
60 Kanchanpur 88.18% Prem Kumar Reang IPFT 19,448 51.76% Rajendra Reang CPI(M) 15,317 40.76% 4,131

Highlights[edit]

No. of Constituencies[edit]

Type of Constituencies GEN SC ST Total
No. of Constituencies 30 10 20 60

[22]

Electors[edit]

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%

[22]

Performance of Women Candidates[edit]

Men Women Total
No.of Contestants 273 24 297
Elected 57 03 60

[22]

Reactions[edit]

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."[23]

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."[24] 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.[24] 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."[25]

Media

It was suggested that in order to defeat the BJP, other opposition parties would have to unite.[26]

Charilam bypoll[edit]

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.[27][28]

Tripura Legislative Assembly Bypoll, 2018: Charilam[29]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
BJP Jishnu Deb Burman 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 25550
Turnout
Registered electors
BJP gain from CPI(M) Swing

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c "Tripura Assembly election results". statisticstimes.com.
  2. ^ a b c "Tripura General Legislative Election 2018". Election Commission of India. Retrieved 16 December 2021.
  3. ^ "Tripura Assembly Election 2018 LIVE: 78.56% Turnout Till 9 PM, Left Front's 25-Year-Long Run Faces BJP Challenge". NDTV. Retrieved 18 February 2018.
  4. ^ "Upcoming Elections in India". Retrieved 13 March 2017.
  5. ^ a b "Conquest of Tripura". Archived from the original on 5 March 2018.
  6. ^ "Tripura polls: Communist cadres getting feel of competition from new foe BJP". United News of India. Retrieved 4 March 2018.
  7. ^ Banerjee, Sumanta (16–22 July 2005). "Civilising the BJP". Economic & Political Weekly. 40 (29): 3118. JSTOR 4416896.
  8. ^ "Tripura election results 2018: Full list of winners". The Indian Express. 3 March 2018. Retrieved 31 December 2018.
  9. ^ "Modi ends communists' 25-year rule in provincial vote". South China Morning Post. 4 March 2018.
  10. ^ "Tripura: Booth president found dead, BJP alleges 12 murders by CPM". 12 February 2018. Retrieved 7 June 2018.
  11. ^ "BJP worker hacked to death in poll-bound Tripura". Archived from the original on 12 June 2018. Retrieved 7 June 2018.
  12. ^ Saikia, Arunabh. "In poll-bound Tripura, the BJP accuses the Left of Kerala-style political killings". Retrieved 7 June 2018.
  13. ^ Sumit Mukherjee (18 January 2018). "Announcement of schedule for General Elections to the Legislative Assemblies of Meghalaya, Nagaland and Tripura, 2018 (English / हिंदी) - Press Releases 2018". Election Commission of India. Retrieved 28 November 2021.
  14. ^ "VVPAT training in Tripura". Archived from the original on 7 November 2017.
  15. ^ "त्रिपुरा विधानसभा चुनाव में 89.8 प्रतिशत मतदान". NDTV. 19 February 2018. Retrieved 20 February 2018.
  16. ^ "What really helped BJP win Tripura". The Times of India.
  17. ^ Ali, Syed Sajjad (16 February 2018). "Cong. committed to Tripura". The Hindu – via www.thehindu.com.
  18. ^ "Strong Left necessary for India: Congress leader Jairam Ramesh". 4 March 2018.
  19. ^ a b c "Exit polls predict BJP may win Tripura, consolidate position in Meghalaya and Nagaland". Times of India. Retrieved 27 January 2018.
  20. ^ PTI (1 March 2018). "Tripura awaits election results as exit polls fail to give clear picture". Live Mint. Retrieved 1 March 2018.
  21. ^ "Form 20 | Final Result Sheet | General Election to the Tripura Legislative Assembly - 2018" (PDF). Chief Electoral Officer, Tripura. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 February 2024. Retrieved 20 June 2020.
  22. ^ a b c "ECI". Election Commission of India.
  23. ^ "Gym instructor-turned-politician Biplab Kumar Deb likely to be Tripura CM - Rediff.com India News". www.rediff.com.
  24. ^ a b "After Tripura Verdict, CPI(M) Says Defeat Should Be Viewed With Seriousness". PTI. 4 March 2018. Retrieved 12 July 2021.
  25. ^ "Defeat in Tripura should be viewed with seriousness: CPM". OnManorama.
  26. ^ "What lessons the Tripura elections verdict holds for the Left". www.dailyo.in.
  27. ^ "BJP wins Tripura's Charilam assembly contested by Deputy CM after post-poll violence delayed counting - Latest News & Updates at Daily News & Analysis". 15 March 2018. Retrieved 7 June 2018.
  28. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 March 2018. Retrieved 17 March 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  29. ^ "Polling underway in Charilam Assembly seat in Tripura". India Today. Retrieved 7 June 2018.

External links[edit]

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