BJP is contesting the forthcoming elections in the state alone. (file)
Theruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday announced its first list of 48 candidates for the Tripura Assembly polls, fielding Union minister Pratima Bhoumik from Dhanpur. It dropped six sitting MLAs, and is fielding 11 women candidates.
The party, which is currently in power in the north-eastern state, is contesting the forthcoming elections in the state alone, and will file nominations for all 60 seats, the party's state president Rajib Bhattacharjee said after his return to the state late Friday night from New Delhi along with other senior leaders.
A BJP leader said that they are now holding talks with their junior ally Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT), which has also been in discussions with the influential opposition tribal based party Tipraha Indigenous Progressive Regional Alliance's (TIPRA) led by former royal scion Pradyot Bikram Manikya Deb Barman.
According to the first list, Chief Minister Manik Saha, who was elected to the state assembly in the by-elections in June last year after former Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb was removed from the top post in May, will contest from the Bordowali seat.
Mr Bhattacharjee said the list was finalised following a meeting of the BJP's central election committee and the parliamentary committee. BJP candidates consist of representatives from various committees including of scheduled castes, tribes, OBCs, minorities, and women, he said.
Union Minister Pratima Bhowmik, who in 2018 assembly polls unsuccessfully contested against former Chief Minister and CPI(M) leader Manik Sarkar, will seek election from the same Dhanpur constituency. Ms Bhoumik is a Union minister in the BJP-led government at the Centre. She is an MP from Tripura.
Tripura state BJP President Rajib Bhattacharjee would contest election for the first time from Banamalipur seat, from where former Chief Minister and incumbent Rajya Sabha member Biplab Kumar Deb was elected in 2018 assembly polls.
CPI(M)'s sitting MLA Moboshar Ali, who on Friday joined the BJP in New Delhi, will contest from his old constituency Kailasahar in northern Tripura, from where he was elected to the state assembly for the first time on a Left party ticket in the 2018 polls.
The BJP did not give tickets to six sitting MLAs - Arun Chandra Bhowmik (Belonia), Biplab Ghosh (Matabari), Subhash Das (Nalchar), Mimi Majumder (Badharghat), Birendra Kishore Debbarma (Golaghati), and Parimal Debbarma (Ambasa).
All the nine BJP ministers, including Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister Jishnu Dev Varma, got the party tickets from their respective constituencies.
However, the name of the candidate from Minister Ram Prasad Paul's constituency in Suryamaninagar was not announced in the first list.
Around 15 new faces find place in the first list of BJP candidates.
State BJP President Rajib Bhattacharjee said that the second list of 12 names would be announced soon.
The BJP came to power in the state for the first time in 2018 after defeating CPI(M), which ruled the state for 25 years continuously.
The BJP top brass was also in talks with TIPRA, which has now been ruled out.
On CPI(M)'s MLA Moboshar Ali and former Trinamool state president Subal Bhowmik joining the BJP, he said they saw that the people of the state could not accept the Congress-CPI(M) alliance, and many more are in touch with the BJP.
The CPI(M) is contesting the state elections in alliance with the Congress this time.
In the 2018 Assembly elections, the BJP, with 43.59% of the vote, secured a majority of seats (36) and formed the government with Biplab Kumar Deb as Chief Minister. The former governing Left Front alliance, while receiving 44.35% of the vote, secured only 16 seats.