BJP’s stellar win in Tripura: Major takeaways, possible reasons

With two out of two seats secured in Tripura, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has achieved an impressive success rate. This feat is particularly noteworthy given that it was the first time the Congress, CPIM, and all other Left Front partners—the CPI, All India Forward Bloc, and Revolutionary Socialist Party—had joined forces as part of the opposition INDIA bloc. The election results yield significant political implications for both ruling and opposition political parties.

As per Election Commission of India (ECI) data, BJP candidates Biplab Kumar Deb and Kriti Devi Debbarman won the West Tripura and East Tripura Parliamentary constituencies with margins of 6,11,578 and 4,86,819 votes, respectively.

The winning margins, especially in a state like Tripura where margins are typically not high, were significant. In the 2019 Parliamentary elections, the BJP won these two seats with a margin of over 5 lakh and around 4.8 lakh votes.

However, in keeping with the rather underwhelming saffron performance across the country, the BJP did not succeed in restricting the INDIA bloc to 1 lakh votes as widely touted during the campaign. Opposition political parties were fairly successful in organising rallies and public meetings, all credits to the united effort to fight the ruling dispensation. Its failure to defeat the BJP, however, has more factors than one.

BJP candidate and member of Tripura’s former Manikya royal family, Kriti Devi Debbarman, emerged victorious from the East Tripura ST-reserved constituency with a lead of 4,86,819 votes over the closest contender, Rajendra Reang, the CPIM candidate from the INDIA bloc, who received 2,90,628 votes.

Kriti Singh Debbarma is a ‘Maharajkumari’ or princess of the erstwhile Manikya royal