2018 Tripura Legislative Assembly election

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.

2018 Tripura Legislative Assembly election
18 February 2018
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

Background

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

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 nominations24 Jan 2018Wednesday
Last date for filing nominations31 Jan 2018Wednesday
Date for scrutiny of nominations1 Feb 2018Thursday
Last date for withdrawal of candidatures3 Feb 2018Saturday
Date of poll18 Feb 2018Sunday
Date of counting3 Mar 2018Saturday
Date before which the election shall be completed5 Mar 2018Monday

Electoral process changes

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

297 candidates registered to contest the election.

PartySymbol AllianceSeats contested
Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)) Left Front57
Communist Party of India (CPI) Left Front1
Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) Left Front1
All India Forward Bloc (AIFB) Left Front1
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

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
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

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
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
  • 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 %
1Simna91.92%Brishaketu Debbarma IPFT15,97748.15%Pranab Debbarma CPI(M)14,01442.23%1,963
2Mohanpur93.53%Ratan Lal Nath BJP22,51654.43%Subhas Chandra Debnath CPI(M)17,34041.91%5,176
3Bamutia94.29%Krishnadhan Das BJP20,01449.15%Haricharan Sarkar CPI(M)19,04246.76%972
4Barjala92.76%Dr. Dilip Kumar Das BJP22,05255.42%Jhumu Sarkar CPI(M)15,82539.77%6,227
5Khayerpur94.37%Ratan Chakraborty BJP25,49655.86%Pabitra Kar CPI(M)18,45740.44%7,039
6Agartala90.73%Sudip Roy Barman BJP25,23455.47%Krishna Majumder CPI(M)17,85239.24%7,382
7Ramnagar88.44%Surajit Datta BJP21,09253.51%Ratan Das CPI(M)16,23741.19%4,855
8Town Bordowali85.97%Ashish Kumar Saha BJP24,29360.33%Biswanath Saha AIFB13,11532.57%11,178
9Banamalipur87.37%Biplab Kumar Deb BJP21,75559.89%Amal Chakraborty CPI(M)12,20633.6%9,549
10Majlishpur94.76%Sushanta Chowdhury BJP23,24952.41%Manik Dey CPI(M)19,35943.64%3,890
11Mandaibazar91.13%Dhirendra Debbarma IPFT21,38151.94%Manoranjan Debbarma CPI(M)15,51737.7%5,864
12Takarjala88.23%Narendra Chandra Debbarma IPFT22,05661.9%Ramendra Debbarma CPI(M)9,40426.39%12,652
13Pratapgarh94.86%Rebati Mohan Das BJP25,83451.1%Ramu Das CPI(M)22,68644.87%3,148
14Badharghat92.1%Dilip Sarkar BJP28,56152.86%Jharna Das(Baidya) CPI(M)23,11342.78%5,448
15Kamalasagar93.09%Narayan Chandra Chowdhury CPI(M)18,84749.99%Arun Bhowmik BJP16,96845.%1,879
16Bishalgarh94.04%Bhanu Lal Saha CPI(M)21,25448.43%Nitai Chowdhury BJP20,48846.68%766
17Golaghati93.46%Birendra Kishore Debbarma BJP19,22852.62%Kesab Debbarma CPI(M)15,73043.05%3,498
18Suryamaninagar94.47%Ram Prasad Paul BJP24,87452.78%Rajkumar Chowdhury CPI(M)20,30743.09%4,567
19Charilam80.55%Jishnu Dev Varma BJP26,58090.81%Palash Debbarma CPI(M)1,0303.52%25,550
20Boxanagar90.85%Sahid Chowdhury CPI(M)19,86257.69%Baharul Islam Majumder BJP11,84734.41%8,015
21Nalchar94.48%Subhash Chandra Das BJP19,26148.48%Tapan Chandra Das CPI(M)18,81047.34%451
22Sonamura90.95%Shyamal Chakraborty CPI(M)19,27551.65%Subal Bhowmik BJP15,84342.46%3,432
23Dhanpur92.62%Manik Sarkar CPI(M)22,17654.43%Pratima Bhoumik BJP16,73541.08%5,441
24Ramchandraghat92.11%Prasanta Debbarma IPFT19,43953.3%Padma Kumar Debbarma CPI(M)15,20441.69%4,235
25Khowai95.55%Nirmal Biswas CPI(M)20,62951.57%Amit Rakshit BJP17,89344.73%2,736
26Asharambari91.77%Mevar Kumar Jamatia IPFT19,18857.34%Aghore Debbarma CPI(M)12,20136.46%6,987
27Kalyanpur–Pramodenagar91.68%Pinaki Das Chowdhury BJP20,29352.01%Manindra Chandra Das CPI(M)17,15243.96%3,141
28Teliamura89.98%Kalyani Saha Roy BJP22,07756.37%Gouri Das CPI(M)14,89838.04%7,179
29Krishnapur91.8%Atul Debbarma BJP16,73051.21%Khagendra Jamatia CPI(M)14,73545.11%1,995
30Bagma91.42%Ram Pada Jamatia BJP24,07450.85%Naresh Chandra Jamatia CPI(M)21,24144.87%2,833
31Radhakishorpur92.36%Pranjit Singha Roy BJP22,41452.54%Srikanta Datta RSP17,56841.18%4,846
32Matarbari92.69%Biplab Kumar Ghosh BJP23,06949.79%Madhab Chandra Saha CPI(M)21,50046.4%1,569
33Kakraban–Salgarh92.58%Ratan Kumar Bhowmik CPI(M)24,83552.95%Jitendra Majumder BJP21,06844.92%3,767
34Rajnagar91.%Sudhan Das CPI(M)22,00455.28%Bibhishan Chandra Das BJP16,29140.93%5,713
35Belonia94.05%Arun Chandra Bhaumik BJP19,30748.45%Basudev Majumder CPI(M)18,55446.56%753
36Santirbazar93.22%Pramod Reang BJP21,70150.88%Manindra Reang CPI19,35245.37%2,349
37Hrishyamukh93.4%Badal Chowdhury CPI(M)22,67355.84%Ashesh Baidya BJP16,34340.25%6,330
38Jolaibari94.32%Jashabir Tripura CPI(M)21,16049.59%Ankya Mog Chowdhury BJP19,59245.92%1,568
39Manu94.35%Pravat Chowdhury CPI(M)19,43247.62%Dhananjoy Tripura IPFT19,23947.15%193
40Sabroom93.72%Sankar Roy BJP21,05950.64%Rita Kar Majumder CPI(M)18,87745.39%2,182
41Ampinagar90.69%Sindhu Chandra Jamatia IPFT18,20253.47%Daniel Jamatia CPI(M)13,25538.94%4,947
42Amarpur94.05%Ranjit Das BJP18,97048.87%Parimal Debnath CPI(M)17,95446.25%1,016
43Karbook92.02%Burba Mohan Tripura BJP15,62248.86%Priyamani Debbarma CPI(M)14,82546.37%797
44Raima Valley91.07%Dhananjoy Tripura IPFT18,67346.93%Lalit Mohan Tripura CPI(M)16,75142.1%1,922
45Kamalpur90.68%Manoj Kanti Deb BJP20,16552.11%Bijoy Laxmi Singha CPI(M)17,20644.46%2,959
46Surma90.43%Ashis Das BJP20,76751.48%Anjan Das CPI(M)18,05744.76%2,710
47Ambassa91.01%Parimal Debbarma BJP20,84249.42%Bharat Reang CPI(M)17,25740.92%3,585
48Karamcherra90.03%Diba Chandra Hrangkhawl BJP19,39755.59%Umakanta Tripura CPI(M)12,06134.57%7,336
49Chawamanu89.69%Sambhu Lal Chakma BJP18,29052.3%Nirajoy Tripura CPI(M)14,53541.56%3,755
50Pabiachhara91.11%Bhagaban Das BJP22,81554.53%Samiran Malakar CPI(M)16,98840.6%5,827
51Fatikroy89.67%Sudhangshu Das BJP19,51251.39%Tunubala Malakar CPI(M)16,68343.94%2,829
52Chandipur90.22%Tapan Chakraborty CPI(M)18,54547.48%Kaberi Singha BJP18,14346.45%402
53Kailashahar86.39%Moboshar Ali CPI(M)18,09345.02%Nitish De BJP13,25932.99%4,834
54Kadamtala–Kurti88.28%Islam Uddin CPI(M)20,72156.84%Tinku Roy BJP13,83937.96%6,882
55Bagbassa86.74%Bijita Nath CPI(M)18,00148.09%Pradip Kumar Nath BJP17,73147.37%270
56Dharmanagar88.38%Biswa Bandhu Sen BJP21,35757.21%Abhijit De CPI(M)14,07037.69%7,287
57Jubarajnagar90.59%Ramendra Chandra Debnath CPI(M)18,14748.54%Jadab Lal Debnath BJP17,49846.8%649
58Panisagar89.5%Binay Bhushan Das BJP15,89248.54%Ajit Kumar Das CPI(M)15,33146.83%561
59Pencharthal89.05%Santana Chakma BJP17,74349.38%Anil Chakma CPI(M)16,37045.56%1,373
60Kanchanpur88.18%Prem Kumar Reang IPFT19,44851.76%Rajendra Reang CPI(M)15,31740.76%4,131

Highlights

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

[22]

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

[22]

Reactions

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

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.

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

References
  1. "Tripura Assembly election results". statisticstimes.com.
  2. "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. "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. "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. "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. "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.
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