Even before the polling process, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has established one-sided dominance in the Tripura Municipal Corporation and urban local body elections. In the upcoming municipal elections scheduled for November 27, 77 BJP candidates have won uncontested without any voting. Following the completion of the nomination withdrawal process on Tuesday, the Tripura State Election Commission declared these 77 candidates elected unopposed. With this, the saffron party has gained an early lead in 77 seats.
In five municipal bodies, the opposition parties did not field a single candidate. According to a senior official of the State Election Commission, no other political party contested in a total of 65 seats across Shantibazar in South Tripura, Ranirbazar in West Tripura, and Kamalpur, Jirania, and Mohanpur in Dhalai district. Consequently, the Commission declared BJP candidates victorious in all seats of these five municipal bodies. Additionally, BJP candidates won uncontested in 12 other seats in Ambassa (Dhalai district), Bishalgarh (Sepahijala district), and Teliamura (Khowai district).
The opposition parties, CPI(M) and Congress, have raised serious allegations against the ruling party regarding the situation where the opposition could not field candidates in five municipal bodies. Leaders of both parties alleged that ruling party supporters intimidated opposition candidates. There are even allegations that proposers of the candidates were threatened to prevent the opposition from participating in the elections in those five municipal bodies. Jitendra Chaudhury, CPI(M) Tripura State Secretary and Leader of the Opposition, stated that BJP workers attacked their party leaders, candidates, and supporters to keep leftist candidates out of the electoral race.
The CPI(M) and Congress, vocal against the ruling party, had previously attempted to contest these municipal elections together. However, despite several rounds of discussions between the two parties, no positive results emerged, and they could not reach an electoral alliance. Meanwhile, with the results already determined in all seats of five municipal bodies, voting will now take place on November 27 in the remaining 16 out of 21 municipal bodies across 8 districts of the state. These politically significant elections also include seats for the Agartala Municipal Corporation. Previously, the ruling BJP had also won the Tripura Assembly by-elections.
