The BJP on Saturday released the names of 48 candidates for the Tripura Assembly election, giving tickets to two Muslim and 11 women candidates. Chief Minister Manik Saha and Union Minister Pratima Bhoumik will contest from Bordowali and Dhanpur respectively. But the party has left out former Chief Minister Biplab Deb, triggering speculation that he may find a place in the Union Cabinet.
The inclusion of two Muslim candidates from a small State like Tripura comes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently asked the BJP cadres to reach out to the voters of the minority communities, including Pasmanda Muslims.
Tripura Opposition CPI(M) MLA from Kailashahar Assembly constituency Md Mabashwar Ali, who on Friday joined the BJP, has been fielded from Kailashahar and Taffazal Hossain is the second BJP candidate. He will contest from Boxanagar.
Incidentally, in the past, the BJP did not field even a single candidate from many States, like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. The inclusion of two Muslim candidates in the BJP list is also significant as Muslim consist of only 8 per cent of the Tripura population, which is dominated by Hindus (81 per cent).
Except for one, all the Ministers were re-nominated while six sitting MLAs were dropped from the contest this time. Those MLAs denied tickets are — Arun Chandra Bhowmik (Belonia), Biplab Ghosh (Matabari), Subhash Das (Nalchar), Mimi Majumder (Badharghat), Birendra Kishore Debbarma (Golaghati), and Parimal Debbarma (Ambasa).
Elections for the 60-member Tripura Assembly are scheduled for February 16.
Party leaders Anil Baluni and Sambit Patra announced the BJP’s candidates at a Press conference here in the party headquarters in the national Capital after BJP’s Central Election Committee attended by the Prime Minister, party president JP Nadda, Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and others met on Friday and approved the list of the nominees.
The BJP ended the Left’s 25-year rule in 2018 and went on to form the Government in Tripura, picking Biplab Deb as the Chief Minister. However, the party removed Deb and appointed Manik Saha as CM in May last year.
Deputy CM Jishnu Debbarma will contest from the Charilam constituency and state BJP chief Rajib Bhattacharjee from Banamalipur. The party will announce the name for the rest twelve seats later which also include tribal seats.
