GG News Bureau
Agartala, 8th Sept. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) snatched the Boxanagar assembly seat from the opposition Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPI(M) and kept the Dhanpur constituency. The votes cast in Tuesday’s by-elections were counted on Friday, despite the CPI(M) declaring a boycott claiming the elections were manipulated.
Tafajjul Hossain, a BJP candidate, defeated CPI(M) contender Mizan Hossein in the Boxanagar seat. He received 34146 votes. His party colleague Bindu Debnath won the Dhanpur seat with 30,017 votes, while Kaushik Chanda of the CPI(M) received 11146 votes.
On September 5, the turnout in the Boxanagar and Dhanpur constituencies was 89.2% and 83.92%, respectively. The BJP and the CPI(M) were competing head-to-head. TIPRA Motha and Congress did not field candidates for the by-elections.
Left Front convener Narayan Kar said they urged that the “rigged election” be annulled and a new election be held, but the Election Commission of India (ECI) refused. He went on to say that the ECI’s “motive” is evident, thus they boycotted the counting of “rigged voting.”
CPI(M) leader Jitendra Chaudhury wrote to the ECI on Tuesday, requesting fresh elections and calling the by-elections in the two constituencies a farce. He claimed that the BJP rigged elections in both constituencies with the help of a section of the police and civil administration under an “extraordinary terror situation.”
Chaudhury accused minister Bikash Debbarma and BJP lawmaker Rampada Jamatia of inciting “outsiders” to push electors to vote for the ruling party or stay home. He requested that Debbarma be arrested.
