A polling booth in Tripura.
Credit: PTI Photo
A day after meeting Tipra Motha and Congress leaders, the CPI(M)-led Left Front on Sunday announced its candidates for the September 5 bypolls in Dhanpur and Boxanagar assembly constituencies in Tripura's Sepahijala district.
While Kaushik Chanda will be the Left Front's candidate from Dhanpur constituency, Mizan Hussain will contest from Boxanagar, front convenor Narayan Kar said.
In the last Assembly elections, Chanda had lost to Union Minister Pratima Bhoumik from Dhanpur, but the CPI(M) managed to retain the Boxanagar seat defeating the BJP candidate in a triangular contest.
Mizan is the son of Boxanagar CPI(M) MLA Samsol Haque who passed away in July causing a vacancy. The bypoll in Dhanpur was necessitated after Bhoumik resigned from the Assembly days after her election.
'The two candidates will submit their nomination papers on August 15,' Kar told a press conference.
CPI(M) state secretary Jitendra Chowdhury told reporters he had a meeting with two Opposition parties — Tipra Motha and Congress — on Saturday and discussed about the polls.
'We told the leaders of both parties that the CPI(M) has a strong political base in Dhanpur and Boxanagar. While the CPI(M) won the Boxanagar seat despite a difficult situation, the party could not win in Dhanpur seat because of Tipra Motha's presence,' he said.
Claiming that the Left Front is '200 per cent' sure of getting support from Tipra Motha and Congress in the bypolls, Chowdhury said all the three parties have vowed to avoid split of anti-BJP votes to defeat the saffron party.
The CPI(M) state secretary claimed that the BJP has been ruling the northeastern state with 'less mandate' (39 per cent vote share) because of a split in the anti-BJP vote bank.