Tripura BJP retains both Lok Sabha seats & wins Ramnagar byelection

Agartala: Despite securing a landslide victory in both parliamentary constituencies and the Ramnagar byelection, the ruling BJP in Tripura is upset over the unexpected poll outcome of the saffron party-led NDA nationally and poor performance in West Bengal, where CM Manik Saha had campaigned vigorously.
Former Tripura CM and BJP candidate Biplab Kumar Deb on Tuesday won the Tripura West Lok Sabha seat, defeating his nearest rival Asish Kumar Saha of the Congress (INDIA bloc) by over six lakh votes.Deb, a Rajya Sabha MP, polled 8,81,341 votes as against 2,69,763 by Saha.
In East Tripura parliamentary constituency, BJP nominee Kriti Singh Debbarman, sister of royal scion and Tipra Motha founder Pradyot Singh Debbarman, won defeating Rajendra Reang from CPM (INDIA bloc) by 4,86,819 votes. She polled 7,77,447 votes as against 2,90,628 by Reang.
In the byelection to Ramnagar assembly seat, BJP candidate and mayor of Agartala Municipal Corporation, Dipak Majumder, won by over 18,014 votes defeating CPM’s Ratan Das. Majumder secured 25,380 votes as against 7,366 by Das. BJP had won Ramnagar in 2023 but its MLA, Surajit Datta, died last December after prolonged illness, following which the seat fell vacant.
As scheduled, the counting of votes began at 8am across 22 centres in 20 locations of the state amid high security. More than 4,000 paramilitary forces along with state police were deployed by the Election Commission. Section 144 was imposed around the counting halls by the respective district administration to prevent any untoward incident.
CM Manik Saha asked his party cadres to maintain peace in and outside the counting halls, and directed police to take strict action against those found indulging in violence, irrespective of their political affiliations.
There was no report of violence in the state.
Though BJP supporters assembled at the 22 counting centres since morning with drums, colours and firecrackers, they returned without any celebration as the early leads showed BJP was trailing in Bengal.
Hundreds of BJP leaders, including the CM and four of his cabinet ministers, had camped in the neighbouring state for a month to canvass for votes for party candidates. They were hoping BJP would at least cross the halfway mark there, but finished much below their expectations, jolting the party’s rank and file.
In 2019 Lok Sabha elections, BJP’s vote share in Tripura was 49.6%.