As the BJP-IPFT alliance is leading in most of the seats in Tripura, there have been calculations over the next Chief Minister of the State and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) trained former gym instructor Biplab Deb, who is the president of the Tripura BJP, is stated to be the front-runner for the Tripura CM’s post if BJP-led government comes to power.
As per the latest updates by the Election Commission of India, the results of 12 seats have been declared. While Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 4 seats, leading in 29 seats, the CPI(M) won 4 seats, leading in 14 seats and the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT) won 4 seats and is leading in 4 seats out of 59 Assembly constituencies in the 60-member Tripura Assembly.
Biplab Deb is the youngest State BJP chief in the country and at the age of 49, he is said to have built the party organisation from scratch in Left stronghold Tripura and is the front-runner for the post of Chief Minister if BJP-IPFT alliance forms government, say report.
Meanwhile, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad reportedly said, “In a way the entire North-east is now with the BJP. Initially, we used to say ‘Congress-mukt Bharat’, now we can say ‘Vaampanth Mukt Bharat’ also.”
Two exit polls predicted that the BJP-led alliance might win more than 35 seats in Tripura which has been ruled by the Left Front led by CPI-M’s Manik Sarkar. A third exit poll predicted that it could be a close contest between the CPI-M and the BJP in the 60-member assembly.
The BJP held a press conference at Agartala, the State capital of Tripura as vote-counting continues in three North-eastern States including Tripura, Nagaland and Meghalaya. BJP’s national general secretary and think-tank Ram Madhav said that their party is on its way to form the government in Tripura.
Saying that they are “satisfied” at the poll results’ trends, Ram Madhav said, “We’ll wait for the final verdict.” He hoped that the BJP-IPFT alliance would win over 40 seats in a “historic verdict” in Tripura. He said that the results are a testimony to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s hard work. He also lauded BJP chief Amit Shah. However, BJP general secretary Madhav said that it won’t be prudent to jump to a conclusion since the final verdict is still not out.
BJP leader Madhav also said that the NDPP-BJP alliance was performing well in Nagaland. He also said that Meghalaya was heading for a divided House.