Tripura civic polls: BJP wins 112 out of 334 seats uncontested

Agartala, Nov 10: The ruling BJP, which has fielded candidates in all the seats in Tripura civic body polls, won 112 out of the total 334 seats uncontested in the Agartala Municipal Corporation (AMC) and 19 urban bodies, an official of the state Election Commission said on Tuesday.

A total of 785 contestants are in the fray for the remaining 222 seats after 36 candidates withdrew their nominations on Monday. Altogether there are 334 seats in the urban local bodies, including Agartala Municipal Corporation (51 wards), 13 Municipal Councils, and six Nagar Panchayats across the state.

Thirty-six candidates, including 15 candidates of the opposition CPI-M, four of Trinamool Congress (TMC), eight of Congress, two of the AIFB, and seven Independent candidates withdrew their nominations, the official said.

The elections will be held on November 25.

Ambassa Municipal Council, Jirania Nagar Panchayat, Mohanpur Municipal Council, Ranirbazar Municipal Council, Bishalgarh Municipal Council, Udaipur Municipal Council and Santirbazar Municipal Council have no opposition candidates.

However, CPI(M) state secretary Jitendra Chaudhury has made allegations against the ruling BJP that their candidates were forced to withdraw their nominations due to "terror let loose by goons sheltered by the BJP".

"Violence began much before the announcement of the schedule of the civic polls. Many of our party activists were attacked and our candidates in five municipal councils and two nagar panchayats could not file their nominations. An unprecedented terror was let loose by BJP-sheltered goons", he told reporters.

The TMC, which is hoping to expand its footprint in Tripura, had said that it would contest the civic body polls in the north-eastern state. A total of 5,94,772 voters are eligible to cast their votes in the civic poll and the number of women voters outnumber male voters in urban areas. PTI