In Tripura, ruled by the BJP, the CPI(M)-led Left Front plans to boycott the vote counting scheduled for Friday in the by-elections for two Assembly seats, alleging widespread manipulation. These by-elections in Boxanagar and Dhanpur, held on September 5, saw a combined voter turnout of 86.56%. The Left Front contends that these by-polls were entirely rigged and criticized the Election Commission for not taking adequate steps to prevent this.
Despite repeated appeals to countermand the election and hold fresh polls, the Election Commission did not act accordingly, leading the Left Front to announce their boycott of the vote counting on August 8, 2023. CPI(M) state secretary Jitendra Choudhury stated that the party would not send agents to the counting centers, citing attacks and threats by BJP workers that prevented their polling agents from fulfilling their duties in nearly half of the 110 polling stations on election day. The BJP, on the other hand, refuted these accusations, asserting that the elections were conducted fairly and that voters were in high spirits.
Notably, the Congress and the Tipra Motha Party (TMP) abstained from contesting these elections to avoid splitting the anti-BJP vote. While the TMP declared its neutrality towards both the BJP and the CPI(M), the Congress actively supported the two CPI(M) candidates, Mizan Hossain in Boxanagar and Kaushik Chanda in Dhanpur. The BJP’s candidates were Taffajal Hossain in Boxanagar and Bindu Debnath in Dhanpur. Dhanpur’s by-election resulted from Union Minister Pratima Bhoumik’s resignation from the Assembly, while Boxanagar’s was due to the passing of sitting MLA Samsul Haque.
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