The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has on March 22 nominated Dipak Majumder, the Mayor of Agartala Municipal Corporation, as their candidate for the upcoming byelection in the Ramnagar Assembly constituency. This announcement came on the same day that Ratan Das of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) filed his nomination.
The selection of Mr. Majumder has dashed the hopes of other rumoured BJP candidates such as Amit Rakshit, and Papia Datta, a member of the family of late Surajit Datta, whose passing necessitated the byelection. Mr. Datta, a former Minister and seven-time MLA, passed away in December of last year.
The Ramnagar constituency in Agartala is one of the largest Assembly segments in Tripura and has a significant number of Muslim and tribal voters. Former Left front Minister and leader of Opposition Jitendra Chaudhury, State Congress president Asish Kumar Saha, and former Health Minister Sudip Roy Bartender escorted Mr. Das, the candidate of the INDIA Opposition bloc, to the office of the Returning Officer.
Mr. Saha, who is contesting for the West Tripura Lok Sabha constituency, stated that they have requested the intervention of the Election Commission to ensure a peaceful election in the State. He also alleged that the ruling BJP has already begun to intimidate people and damage campaign decorations in some areas.
Mr. Saha urged people to support the Opposition alliance in order to “save democracy” and appealed for generous donations as the party is facing a serious fund shortage.
