BJP takes Tripura as another leftist stronghold falls

Manik Sarkar, who had kept the red flag flying in Tripura after leftist loss of West Bengal, seems to have been toppled by a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) surge in the polls, reports bdnews24.com.

As of Saturday afternoon, the north-east assembly election results from the Indian state show the BJP racing ahead.

The BJP had little presence in previous Tripura elections but the latest polls have them ready to form a government after defeating Congress and the Communist Party of India (Marxist).

Elections for 59 of Tripura's 60 seats were held on Feb 18 last. One poll was postponed due to the death of a candidate. Exit polls predicted the victory of the saffron party even before counting began on Saturday at Agartala's Umakanta Academy.

The Times of India forecast the BJP taking a significant majority of 42 seats, while the leftists are left with 16. The BJP only needs 31 seats to form a government.

The Left Front assumed power in Tripura in 1977

and has regularly maintained control over the state assembly. It did, however, lose one election to a Congress-TUJS coalition in 1988, only to regain power in 1993. To date Manik Sarkar has formed four governments in Tripura.

The Communists lost West Bengal in 2011 after ruling for 34 years, but had managed to cling on to Tripura under Sarkar.