BJP sweeps all 14 urban local body polls in Tripura, gets major boost in North East ahead of 2019 Lok Sabha election

Even though the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lost three Assembly elections recently, there continues to be good news for the party from the North East. After the party secured a landslide victory in the Tripura Assembly election in March, it has on Friday registered a massive win in the municipal elections in the state. The BJP has won in all 14 municipal bodies in the state, while the CPM won only one seat in the Panisagar municipal council. These wins come at a time when the BJP is seeking to gain more seats in the North East to compensate for any loss of seats in other regions. A jubilant Sunil Deodhar, the BJP’s national secretary and in-charge for Tripura described the results as “ great news from Tripura”, and congratulated Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb and party workers. [caption id=“attachment_4452667” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Tripura chief minister Biplab Deb. News18[/caption] The BJP has attributed this result to the charisma of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and the schemes undertaken by the state dispensation to fulfill his vision. Commenting on the schemes undertaken by the state government, Sanjay Mishra, Officer on Special Duty in the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO), said, “The CMO is committed to serve every citizen in Tripura with honesty. There are many schemes initiated by the state government which can immediately strike a chord with the people.” The state government has assured a water supply connection to every home under the Atal Jaldhara Mission, which seems to have struck a chord with the urban population. Only 20 percent of the state’s population receives safe drinking water through pipelines. Similarly, the state government has decided to reserve 10 percent of vacancies across all posts in the police department for women. “The state government is also committed to maintain fairness and transparency in the appointment system in government jobs,” Mishra added. During the previous CPM rule, there was a general impression that that the backing of the ruling party was important in getting a job in the government sector. CPM alleges “rigging” The CPM has attributed the result of the urban local body polls to massive rigging by the ruling party. Jitendra Choudhury, former minister and CPM leader told Firstpost , “BJP members attacked our workers and ransacked our offices. The law and order situation has collapsed. Many of our candidates had to withdraw their nominations.” Thirty-five candidates fielded by the CPM withdrew their nominations before the election. However, BJP leaders have denied allegations of rigging and have said that they are only meant to cover up the CPM’s failures. Supratik Sinha, a BJP worker, said, “In the panchayat polls held in September this year, the CPM had won some seats. How would this be possible if the law and order apparatus had broken down?.” A journalist who covered the election said that the wave in favour of the BJP which was seen during the Assembly election has not yet died down.