- Abhijit Nath, NET Correspondent, Tripura
Agartala, September 22, 2022 : The voting procedure by the MLAs of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party along with its allied partner Indigenous Front of Tripura and opposition Communist Party of India (Marxists) had begun at the premises of state legislative assembly here in Agartala city on Thursday morning.
However, the lone Congress MLA Sudip Roy Barman will not exercise his franchise and had boycotted the by-election.
The by-election is being conducted for the lone Rajya Sabha seat of Tripura on Thursday and the counting procedure will be completed by the evening.
It is worthy to mention here that BJP had fielded it’s former Chief Minister of Tripura, Biplab Kumar Deb for this Rajya Sabha seat while the opposition CPIM fielded MLA Bhanulal Saha.
On Wednesday last, BJP Tripura ‘Prabhari’ and MP Dr Mahesh Sharma, and BJP Northeast Coordinator Sambit Patra arrived at Agartala and held crucial meeting ahead of by-poll on Thursday in presence of BJP MLAs, ministers, Deputy CM Jishnu Dev Varma and Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha.
Earlier, the incumbent Chief Minister of Tripura, Dr Manik Saha was elected as the MP of Rajya Sabha on March 31 and resigned on July 07 last. After his resignation, the Election Commission issued fresh notification for by-poll in the lone Rajya Sabha seat of Tripura on September 22 next. On Friday last, Left Front candidate Bhanulal Saha filed his nomination papers for contesting in the ensuing by-election of Rajya Sabha.
Currently in 60-seat assembly in Tripura, 36 MLAs won from BJP in the last election while seven MLAs are serving from IPFT and 15 MLAs of CPIM and one Congress MLA.
