AGARTALA, Aug 13 (PTI): A day after meeting Tipra Motha and
Congress leaders, the CPI (M)-led Left Front on Sunday
announced its candidates for the September 5 bypolls in
Dhanpur and Boxanagar assembly constituencies in Tripura’s
Sepahijala district.
While Kaushik Chanda will be the Left Front’s candidate from
Dhanpur constituency, Mizan Hussain will contest from
Boxanagar, front convenor Narayan Kar said.
In the last Assembly elections, Chanda had lost to Union
Minister Pratima Bhoumik from Dhanpur, but the CPI (M)
managed to retain the Boxanagar seat defeating the BJP
candidate in a triangular contest.
Mizan is the son of Boxanagar CPI (M) MLA Samsol Haque who
passed away in July causing a vacancy. The bypoll in Dhanpur
was necessitated after Bhoumik resigned from the Assembly
days after her election.
“The two candidates will submit their nomination papers on
August 15,” Kar told a press conference.
CPI (M) state secretary Jitendra Chowdhury told reporters he
had a meeting with two opposition parties — Tipra Motha and
Congress — on Saturday and discussed about the polls.
“We told the leaders of both parties that the CPI (M) has a
strong political base in Dhanpur and Boxanagar. While the CPI
(M) won the Boxanagar seat despite a difficult situation, the
party could not win in Dhanpur seat because of Tipra Motha’s
presence,” he said.
Claiming that the Left Front is ‘200 per cent’ sure of getting
support from Tipra Motha and Congress in the bypolls,
Chowdhury said all the three parties have vowed to avoid split
of anti-BJP votes to defeat the saffron party.
The CPI (M) state secretary claimed that the BJP has been ruling
the northeastern state with ‘less mandate’ (39 per cent vote
share) because of a split in the anti-BJP vote bank.
