Tripura BJP president Manik Saha wins Rajya Sabha poll

Tripura BJP president Dr Manik Saha was elected to the states' lone Rajya Sabha seat on Thursday, Chief Electoral Officer Gitte Kirankumar Dinkarrao said.

Manik Saha polled 40 votes while his rival candidate, CPI(M) nominee Bhanu Lal Saha, bagged 15.

An MLA of the Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura (IPFT), a constituent of the ruling BJP-led coalition, did not vote.

Four seats of the 60-member Tripura assembly are now vacant.

MLAs take part in the Rajya Sabha poll as members of the Upper House of Parliament are elected by legislators in state assemblies. It is an election through proportional representation.

"The Rajya Sabha election was held in a peaceful manner. The result was declared after getting permission from the Election Commission. Dr Manik Saha won 40-15," Dinkarrao said.

As expected, BJP-IPFT nominee Manik Saha won the election, Assembly Speaker Ratan Chakraborty said.

"Barring one MLA of the IPFT, all 40 legislators of BJP-IPFT alliance supported him. There was no cross-voting," he said.

Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb congratulated Manik Saha for being elected as the first BJP Rajya Sabha MP from Tripura.

"I believe you will work sincerely in the Upper House of Parliament for the welfare of the people of Tripura under the guidance of Honourable PM Shri Narendra Modi Ji,” Deb said in a social media post.

Mainak Saha, who quit the Congress and joined the BJP in 2016, was made the party’s state president in 2020. He had replaced Biplab Kumar Deb who had led the saffron party to a phenomenal victory in the 2018 Assembly elections ending a 25-year-old Communist rule.

CPI(M) candidate Bhanu Lal Saha is an MLA and a former finance minister of the state.

The Left Front currently has 15 MLAs in the Tripura assembly, while the ruling BJP has a strength of 33 and its ally IPFT has eight.

IPFT legislator Brishaketu Debbarma who did not vote in the Rajya Sabha election reportedly joined the Tripura Indigenous Progressive Regional Alliance (TIPRA Motha).

BJP legislators Sudip Roy Barman and Asish Saha resigned from the assembly and gave up their memberships of the party in February. They later joined the Congress.

Speaker Ratan Chakraborty in January disqualified BJP MLA Ashish Das who has joined the Trinamool Congress, while CPI(M) legislator Ramendra Chandra Debnath died recently. The tenure of incumbent Rajya Sabha MP from Tripura, Jharna Das Baidya, will expire on April 2.

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