4-party tussle in Tripura

SEKHAR DATTA

The West Tripura Lok Sabha constituency, encompassing the state’s two districts of West and South Tripura and comprising 30 Assembly segments, is all set for a multi-cornered contest, involving traditional rivals Congress and CPM, apart from Trinamool Congress and BJP. Even though the Congress and CPM have been traditional rivals over the years, the other two parties have built up pockets of support base that can influence the outcome. Of the 14 Lok Sabha elections held till 2004, the Marxists have won the West Tripura seat nine times outright and on ten occasions if the court-enabled victory of Biren Dutta in 1967 is taken into account. The majority of the 10,91,957-strong electorate in the seat are non-tribals as the sprawling constituency has altogether seven tribal reserved Assembly segments and six Assembly seats reserved for the Scheduled Caste. “The very composition of the seat is our plus point because traditionally the Left Front has had a near complete sway over the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe voters. Even now the front represents all the reserved Assembly segments under the West Tripura seat,” said Haripada Das, the CPM office secretary. On the other hand, Congress nominee and sitting MLA Sudip Roy Barman is pinning his hopes on the Left Front’s failure over the past years to win the seat. “Since the people of this constituency have many grievances against the CPM leaders and elected representatives, Congress should benefit from it,” Roy Barman said. He had also been highlighting the “dismal” performance of his veteran rival and sitting MP Khagen Das in the Lok Sabha, to seek support.