With less than a fortnight for the first phase of polling on the 19th of April, electioneering has gained momentum in the Tripura West Parliamentary Constituency. There are nine candidates in the fray; prominent among them being former Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb and Congress’ Ashish Kumar Saha.

Akashwani correspondent reports that’s The Election Commission has made all preparations to conduct the polls in the Tripura West parliamentary seat in a free, fair, transparent and peaceful manner. In the constituency, a total of over 14 lakh 61 thousand voters are eligible to exercise their franchise. Of the total more than 7 lakh 33 thousand voters are male while 7 lakh 28 thousand voters are female.  

The Tripura (West) constituency is an unreserved seat, however, a unique feature of the constituency is – over 25 per cent of voters in the segment are tribals. The constituency is seemingly going to witness a bipolar fight between the ruling BJP-led NDA alliance and the Congress-led Indi alliance.  Two main contenders are the former Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb & Congress state president Ashish Kumar Saha. It was Mr. Deb who wrested control of power from the CPI (M) led Left Front government in 2018 to become the first Chief Minister of the BJP-led government in Tripura. However, he had to step down from the Chief Minister’s post in May 2022, to make way for Dr. Manik Saha who is currently at the helm of affairs. In the 2019, Lok Sabha polls, BJP won the seat. The sitting MP from Tripura West seat is Union Minister Pratima Bhoumik who in the 2019 election defeated her nearest rival from the Congress Subal Bhowmik by a margin of more than 3 lakh votes to win this seat for the BJP first time in the history of the state.

Meanwhile, four days from now the home voting will begin for eligible Divyang voters and 85 years and above, the real battle will be fought on April 19 when electors cast their vote in the EVMs.