Tripura Assembly Election 2023: 5 Points On BJP Leader Pratima Bhoumik

Five years after trouncing the Left, the BJP will go into the Tripura elections in 2023 seeking to retain power. The party is contesting the polls in alliance with the Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT). The BJP will contest 55 seats while the IPFT gets the remaining five.  

Voting for the 60-member Tripura will be held on February 16. The results will be declared on March 2. Union Minister of State Pratima Bhoumik is one of BJP's most prominent candidates in the Tripura elections. Here are 5 points about her:

• Pratima Bhoumik is currently serving as the Union Minister of State for Social Justice & Empowerment. The 53-year-old assumed office in July 2021.
• Pratima Bhoumik contested the 2019 Lok Sabha election from the Tripura West constituency and defeated Shankar Prasad Dutta of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) by a margin of 3,05,689 votes.
• She contested the Tripura Assembly election from the Dhanpur constituency in 1998 and 2018. She lost to former Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar of CPM both times. Dhanpur is a bastion of the CPM-led Left Front, which ruled the northeastern state for 25 years.
• Pratima Bhoumik is a graduate in science and belongs to a family of farmers. In fact, she practiced farming for years in her native Dhanpur village before entering politics. She has three siblings – two brothers and one sister.
• For the 2023 Assembly polls, BJP has again fielded Pratima Bhoumik from the Dhanpur constituency. This time, however, Manik Sarkar is not contesting the election which may benefit the BJP leader.