LIVE Blog | Tripura Assembly Elections Results 2023: Tripura CM Manik Saha wins from Bordowali constituency, Tipra Motha can become the king-maker

Sweets were being distributed at Tripura CM Manik Saha’s residence in Agartala as the party is set to retain power once again as it leads on 32 seats out of the total 60. Earlier in the day, CM Manik Saha also seek blessings at a temple before the counting of votes was started at 8 am. 

Tipra Motha's first assembly debut looks impressive as per the early trends as the party is leading in Charilam ( ST) seat. Deputy CM is in second position. Tipra Motha is also leading in Teliamura seat.

Khowai: CPM leading

Jubrajnagar: BJP leading

Khayerpur: BJP leading

Kalyanpur- Pramodnagar - BJP leading

Sabroom: CPM candidate and CPM state secretary Jitendra Chaudhury is leading

Asharambari ( ST) seat: Tipra Motha leading

Bamutia: CPM leading

Panisagar: BJP leading

Matarbari: BJP leading

Bagma: BJP leading

Suryamaninagar: Congress leading

Kanchanpur ( ST): Independent leading

Simna: Tipra Motha leading

BJP is leading 18 seats while Tipra is leading in 12 seats, Congress in 5, CPM in 8, and Independents leading in two seats. Chief minister Manik Saha is leading in second round of counting. The Pradyot Bikram Manikya Deb Barma-led party, which had earlier demanded a separate state for indigenous communities, is likely to emerge as a kingmaker in the elections. The party is currently leading in 12 seats. 

Following candidates are leading in different constituencies:

Khowai: CPM leading

Jubrajnagar: BJP leading

Khayerpur: BJP leading

Congress's Asish Kumar Saha is leading BJP candidate and CM Manik Saha in Town Bordowali seat. Sitting MLA and Congress leader Sudip Roy Barman is leading BJP's Papia Dutta in Agartala seat.

Manik Saha replaced Biplab Deb as Tripura's chief minister in a strategic decision on the part of the state. With the BJP alliance in power, Manik Saha may serve another term as chief minister. Saha is a 70-year-old medical practitioner and won the only Rajya Sabha seat in Tripura last year. Apart from being a renowned doctor, Manik Saha is also known as a former badminton player. Before joining BJP, Saha was in Congress and then left the party in 2016. In 2022, he contested his first election from the Town Bardowali Assembly constituency in a bypoll. He is contesting from this seat this assembly election.

As predicted by the exit polls, BJP is leadin the state with 39 seats. This could help BJP in gaining the majority in the state. While the alliance of the Congress and the Left is leading in 15 seats and Tipra is leading in 6 seats, as per the early trends. 

Chief Minister of Tripura, Manik Saha is leading from his Town Bordowali constituency. 

The party performed puja at its office in Tripura's Agartala on Thursday ahead of the counting of votes for the assembly elections. The state BJP president Rajib Bhattacharjee exuded confidence in returning to power again in the state. "We performed puja at the party office today and took blessings of Mata Tripureshwari. BJP will return to power in Tripura. We will get a majority," Bhattacharjee told news agency ANI.

What we know so far-

1. The counting began at 8am. First, the postal ballots are counted.

2. The trends emerging now are the verdict of postal ballots. Early leads of around 40 out of 60 seats are now available.

3. BJP-alliance is leading in 26 seats, Congress-Left is leading in 9 seats, and Tipra leading in 5 seats.

4. The majority mark is 31.

5. The trend may get changed once the EVM votes are counted.

As per the early trends, BJP is leading on 21 seats, followed by CPM on 9 seats. TMP is on 6 seats, while Congress is trailing behind with 2 seats. 

A total of 25,000 security personnel have been deployed in Tripura to maintain law and order. Security personnel conducted flag marches in different areas of Agartala as a confidence-building measure.

The NDA-led BJP-IPFT alliance is now ahead in 27 seats. The CPM-led alliance and Tipra are ahead in 3 seats each, as per first trends. 

Out of total 60 seat in the Tripura Assembly, 31 seats is needed by the competing parties to make a majority. Out of these seats, BJP-IPFT alliance is ahead on 17 seats now, show early trends. Next in the line is CPM with 3 seats and TMC with 1. 

Town Bardowali: The BJP’s face in the polls, Chief Minister Manik Saha, is contesting from the Town Bardowali constituency located on the outskirts of Agartala city. Saha is locked in a keen contest with the Congress’s three-term MLA Ashish Kumar Saha.
 

Agartala: Contrary to CM Saha’s explanation, the Agartala constituency, most of which is located in the heart of the capital city, saw 84.13 per cent voter turnout, from where senior Congress leader and ex-minister Sudip Roy Barman, the six-term MLA, is taking on the BJP’s greenhorn candidate Papia Dutta.
 

Dhanpur: The Dhanpur seat in Sepahijala district is witnessing a keen fight between Union minister Pratima Bhoumik and the CPI(M)’s 42-year-old candidate Kaushik Chanda, who is contesting the election for the first time.
 

Sabroom: The CPI(M) state secretary, Jitendra Chaudhury, who is touted to be the CM candidate of the Left-Congress combine, is contesting from the Sabroom constituency in South Tripura. He is pitted against the BJP’s incumbent MLA Shankar Roy, who had won with a margin of 2182 votes in the 2018 polls.

Kailashahar: The Kailashahar seat in Unakoti district is also likely to witness a fierce fight, where state Congress chief and ex-minister Birajit Sinha is pitted against former CPI(M) MLA Moboswor Ali, who switched to the BJP just ahead of the polls.

"There is no tension. Everywhere we will have our governments just the way it has been (from 2018). It was NDA governments then and now also all governments in the three states will return as NDA without any alliance with TMC and Congress. I think there will also be status quo on BJP CMs. Tripura, like last time, will have BJP CM, in Nagaland we have our alliance. In Meghalaya, let us see how much seats BJP gets"

A secret meeting between Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma and his Meghalaya CM, Conrad Sangma in Guwahati on Tuesday night. This has sparked speculation about the return of NPP to the NDA, after a bitter campaign in which both parties went solo. 

Assam CM Himanta Biswa Saram, who is also the BJP's pointsman for the northeast region has claimed that there will be no hung assembly in Tripura, Nagaland or Meghalaya, as predicted in some exit polls. The BJP-led NDA will form governments with absolute majority in all three northeaster states. 

Before BJP clinched power in the last assembly elections, it was the Communist Party of India (Marxist) that ruled the state for straight four terms. BJP won 35 out of 59 seats in the last election while its ally Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT) won eight seats, effectively throwing out the Manik Sarkar government. 

Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha, hours ahead of the results said he anticipated a Tsunami of BJP.

"We are good students, why will our (BJP’s) results be bad? In every aspect, we are for the people, by the people. You have seen how all exit polls are favouring us. The numbers will go up and I believe it will be a tsunami. I am certain that it will surpass all records."

According to Kiran Gitte, Tripura's chief electoral officer, counting of votes will take place at 21 counting centres. The EC has observed 60 election observers. 

Of the total 28.13 lakh electorates in Tripura, the state recorded an 87.6 % voter turnout, according to the data shared by the election commission on Friday. 

According to the data, chief minister Manik Saha’s constituency, Town Bordowali, recorded the lowest turnout of the 60 assembly seats that went to polls. In 2018, voter turnout here was recorded at 89.3%. The official data registered an 89.1% turnout from female voters, higher than the total male voters at 86.1%. Whereas 67.7% of eligible electors belonging to the third gender category exercised their franchise, taking the total voter turnout up to 87.63%.

Out of total 259 candidates in Tripura, 30 are women from different political parties contesting for the assembly elections. Among the political parties, the BJP has fielded the maximum number of women candidates. Check the full list of women candidates here:

The BJP has been projected as performing well in all three of the northeastern states, Tripura, Meghalaya, and Nagaland, according to the exit polls.

• BJP+: 29-40
• CPM+: 9-16
• TMP: 10-14
• OTH: 1