Blowing the bugle of this year’s long polling season, the Election Commission announced yesterday the date of assembly polls in North East India’s Tripura, Nagaland and Meghalaya. At the same time, the commission also announced by-elections to one Lok Sabha and six assembly constituencies. Which includes Sagardighi Assembly Constituency in West Bengal. Due to the death of ruling party MLA Subrata Saha, the by-election in that seat will be held on February 27.
Of the three states that have announced elections yesterday, Tripura will go to polls on February 16 and Nagaland-Meghalaya on February 27. The results of the three state polls will be declared on March 2. Chief Election Commissioner Rajeev Kumar said that the code of conduct has been implemented in the three states since the election was announced yesterday. Out of the three states where polls have been declared, the BJP is currently in power in Tripura and Meghalaya.
In Meghalaya, the BJP formed the government with the UDP NPP, but the picture is different in Tripura. Five years ago, the BJP won the state almost single-handedly, defeating the Left as the majority party. Out of the total 60 seats in the Legislative Assembly, 45 were held by the BJP and its alliance partner IPFT. But after four years, Chief Minister Biplab Dev had to be removed due to strong institutional opposition to the government. Manik Saha was made Chief Minister instead.
Claim of the central leadership
The central leadership of the party claims that the wind of opposition to the establishment has decreased to some extent since Mr. Biplab was removed. However, Pradyot Kishore Manikya’s party has emerged as a significant force in the Janjati Constituency (ADC) elections with success in Tipra motha. On the other hand, several MLAs have left the BJP, Sudeep Roy Barman and others have returned to the Congress. In this background, Congress and CPM have decided to fight by sharing the seats to prevent the division of opposition votes in the assembly elections.
Keeping an eye on the minds of the people, they are also discussing with Tipra Motha. As a result, the political camp is of the opinion that this fight in Tripura can be provocative.
On the other hand, Tripura is one of the two states in the North-East that Trinamool has set a target on. Meanwhile, the Trinamool leadership became politically active over Tripura. But in the last six months, there has been a lot of ebb and flow in that initiative. The party is well aware that it is not possible to strengthen the party by sending leaders from Kolkata if the local workers do not come forward calling for support from behind.
Wrapping up
Another state in the North East that Trinamool is eyeing is Meghalaya. The main opposition party in that state is Trinamool. Yesterday, Mamata Banerjee went to that state for election campaign. She emphasized on party workers taking advantage of the strong institutional opposition to the coalition government in the state in the campaign.