BJP Sweeps Tripura Civic Elections, Wins 217 Of 222 Seats: 10 Points

Of the 334 total seats -- including AMC with 51 wards, 13 municipal councils, and six nagar panchayats.-- the BJP has won 329, having been elected unopposed in 112 seats earlier. Polling took place on November 25 for 222 seats. The Agartala Municipal Corporation has become opponent less, with all 51 wards going to the BJP.

The CPM won one seat each in Ambassa Nagar Panchayat in Dhalai District,  Panisagar Nagar Panchayat in North district,  and Kailashahar Municipal Coucil in Unakoti district. The Trinmool won one seat in Ambasa. A regional party, Tipra Motha, has got one seat in the same area.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated the state unit of the BJP. "I would like to applaud the @BJP4Tripura Karyakartas who worked tirelessly on the ground and served people. Under the leadership of Shri Biplab Deb Ji, the State Government has been at the forefront of many initiatives, which the people have duly blessed," he tweeted.

"The people of Tripura have given a clear message - that they prefer politics of good governance. I would like to thank them for the unequivocal support to @BJP4Tripura. These blessings give us greater strength to work for the welfare of each and every person in Tripura," read another tweet.

This is the first civic election that the BJP contested after coming to power in Tripura in 2018. Its main rival was the Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress and the CPM, which ruled the state earlier.

The Trinamool, however, said this was "just the beginning". "It is exceptional for a party beginning with negligible presence to successfully contest municipal elections and emerge as the PRINCIPAL OPPOSITION in the state with more than 20% vote share," tweeted Trinamool's Abhishek Banerjee.

"This is despite the fact that we commenced our activities barely 3 months ago and @BJP4Tripura left no stone unturned to BUTCHER DEMOCRACY in Tripura," another tweet from him read.

The party had demanded that the elections be declared invalid, alleging they were "heavily rigged and reduced to a farce" by the ruling BJP. The CPM also demanded the same in five wards of AMC.

The polls were held amid  heavy security. Thousands of personnel from the Tripura State Rifles and central paramilitary forces were deployed in sensitive areas where the counting centres are located.

There have been reports of a series of violent incidents in Tripura as the Trinamool Congress is trying to gain foothold in the state ahead of the 2023 assembly elections.