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The BJP-IPFT combine scripted history today by winning the Tripura Assembly polls, ending 25 years of uninterrupted rule of the CPI(M)-led Left Front in the state.
The party captured 23 seats on its own while its alliance partner the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT) bagged 7 seats, giving the combine a majority in the House, according to Election Commision (EC) sources.
BJP has consolidated its position significantly in the three North Eastern States - Tripura, Nagaland, and Meghalaya
The BJP-IPFT alliance has recorded a landslide win in Tripura, overthrowing 25-year-old Left Front government. With BJP getting a clear majority in Tripura, the government will be strong. Congress failed to open an account.
With this, the number of BJP-ruled states in the country may cross 20.
Nagaland
In Nagaland the Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party-BJP alliance is on course to win, replacing the Naga People’s Front Government.
Meghalaya
Meghalaya final party position
Meghalaya is heading for a hung Assembly. Congress is leading here but way short of the half-way mark and BJP to open an account in the State for the first time. Chances are, BJP will bid for stitching an alliance to form the government here.
The national implications of this election are known. North East has 24 Parliamentary seats. With BJP facing anti-incumbency in major states like Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh – which will go to polls this year – North East may help add up to the number.
But that is about numbers. With Saturday’s results, BJP actually went another step ahead in projecting itself as a true national party, way ahead of Congress in its current form. Barring in the South, where the party is making slow but steady inroads, BJP is now ruling in almost every corner of the country.
Easy win in Tripura
The results in the three North Eastern States, especially an easy win in the erstwhile Left bastion of Tripura, will therefore act as a major moral booster for the party.
What was most striking in Tripura election was, BJP and the Parivar was successful to work in unison with Christian tribal groups, led by N C Debbarma’s IPFT.
CPI(M), which traditionally pocketed all 20 tribal seats, surely underestimated the strength of the coalition. But as the results prove, they had to take a serious beating at their own backyard.
The BJP-IPFT coalition cornered nearly 50 per cent votes as against 41 per cent of the Left, and the BJP insiders give full credit to IPFT chief N C Debbarma and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for that. The rest was done by anti-incumbency against the left and near complete shift of the Congress vote bank to BJP.
The ferocity of the pro-BJP wave can be understood from the fact that BJP candidates won from Bijoy Kumar Hrangkhawl’s Indigenous Nationalist Party of Twipra (INPT)’s stronghold at Ambassa.
Takeaways for Bengal
Tripura election was an ideological war of BJP against the Left (which will now be in power only in Kerala). But the results might encourage BJP to get more serious on Bengal, where the ruling Trinamool is enjoying the advantage of division in Opposition votes between the Left, BJP and Congress.
Tripura election results prove that if BJP can project itself as a viable Opposition, theOpposition votes may consolidate in its favour.
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