Left Wins in Tripura -- For Fifth Straight Term


Agartala: Tripura's ruling Left Front stormed back to power in Tripura for the fifth straight term, delivering a humiliating blow to the Congress.

The Left Front led by the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) also increased its vote share compared to 2008, election officials said.

The Congress and its allies, the Indigenous Nationalist Party of Tripura (INPT) and the Nationalist Conference of Tripura were crushed, for the fifth consecutive time since 1993.

The CPI-M on its own won 32 seats of the total 44 results declared so far in the 60-member assembly and was leading in nine more seats.

Its allies, the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) and the Communist Party of India (CPI), won one seat each. The CPI lost a seat.

The Congress managed to get 10 seats and was leading in one more. The INPT was leading in one constituency.

Chief Minister Manik Sarkar, 64, who has ruled Tripura since 1998, won from Dhanpur by a margin of around 5,000 votes. It was Sarkar's sixth win.

Finance Minister Badal Chowdhury posted the highest winning margin of 12,450 votes.

Commerce Minister Jitendra Chowdhury, School Education Minister Tapan Chakraborty, Information Minister Anil Sarkar, Tribal Welfare Minister Aghore Debbarma and all cabinet colleagues retained their seats by huge margins.

Teacher-turned-politician Anil Sarkar, 75, who is also a poet and writer, was re-elected on CPI-M ticket from Pratapgarh in western Tripura for a record ninth time.

Source: IANS