• Abhijit Nath, NET Correspondent, Tripura 

Agartala, May 30, 2022 : Being the main opposition political party in Tripura, Left Front committee on Monday announced their list of candidates’ names for four assembly constituencies where by-election is scheduled to take place on June 23 next.

The list of candidatures in four assembly constituencies are- Krishna Majumder of CPIM to contest from 6-Agartala, Raghunath Sarkar of Forward Block to contest from 8-Town Bardowali, Anjan Das of CPIM to contest from 46-Surma (ST-reserved), and Sailendra Chandra Nath of CPIM to contest from 57-Jubarajnagar.

The announcement was made by Left Front convener Narayan Kar in presence of CPIM state secretary Jitendra Choudhury, Forward Bloc leader Paresh Chandra Sarkar, CPI leader Ranjit Majumdar and Gopal Das of RSP at CPIM state headquarters here in Agartala city on Monday.

Majumder was former councilor in Agartala Municipal Corporation, Sarkar was a former teacher and now engaged with publishing, and Das and Nath are active members of the CPIM state committee, he added.

Speaking to reporters here on Monday noon, Kar said “Due to infighting in the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, their nominated MLAs and ministers tendered their resignations while this is continuing. For this ruling party only, the election commission had been compelled to conduct another election before the scheduled general assembly polls in Tripura.”

Citing an instance of democracy prevailing in Tripura, Left Front convener said “Why is election not being conducted in 1-Simna assembly constituency? The elected representative from IPFT joined another political party and he also tendered his resignation to the Speaker of Tripura Legislative Assembly. But it was not accepted till date. Even BJP’s allied partner IPFT in government expelled the MLA from the party. What kind of democracy is going on in this country where his resignation has not been accepted in the assembly?”

“Under these circumstances, we the Leftist give importance to all elections. In our politics, elections are a larger political struggle. We stay in the field for 365 days with the problems of the common masses and sometimes with political demands. Hence, in this upcoming by-election, the Left Front will fight in a united manner”, he added.

Kar said “Tripura’s common people elected this BJP-IPFT coalition government for a span of 60 months. MLA Biplab Kumar Deb had been removed from the post of Chief Minister who had dreamt to remain in power for 2047. This dream is a long way off, he could not even succeed for 60 months, within 50-51 months, and extreme wailing has descended on the lives of the people of this state.”

He also alleged “During the BJP-led government’s regime in Tripura, rigging took place in hundreds of booths under 1-West Tripura parliamentary constituency way back in 2019. Not only this, urban local bodies election was conducted under a complete rigging process. Even the like-minded people of BJP were restrained from exercising their democratic rights.”

Being asked about how the candidates are nominated, CPIM state secretary Choudhury said “We select candidates from among people, who have the inclination for the people. On the issues of the people, they have always been active on call or without call.”