BJP, CPI(M) announce candidates for lone Tripura Rajya Sabha seat

BJP nominates party’s State unit chief Manik Saha; CPI(M) nominates veteran Bhanu Lal Saha

The BJP on Friday nominated its Tripura unit president Manik Saha as the party’s candidate for the lone Rajya Sabha seat from the State. The main Opposition, the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) also announced the name of its candidate for the poll scheduled on March 31.

Dr. Saha’s selection came as a surprise as his name has been doing the rounds for the Town Bardowali Assembly bypoll.

The Election Commission of India has initiated the process for byelections in four Assembly segments in the State, which fell vacant because three MLAs resigned, and one MLA was disqualified under the anti-defection law.

Sources said the BJP high command was handed a long list of prospective aspirants representing different occupations. But the party ultimately zeroed on a seasoned politician in Dr. Saha, a dental surgeon. Formerly a Congress leader, he joined the BJP in 2017 ahead of the State Assembly elections of February 2018.

The CPI(M) has nominated veteran MLA Bhanu Lal Saha for the Rajya Sabha seat. Mr. Bhanu Lal Saha served as the Information and Finance Minister in the previous Left Front government.

He was elected from the Bishalgarh Assembly constituency in the last Assembly poll. His contest for the Rajya Sabha will be merely representative as the CPI(M) has 16 MLAs when compared to the 40 MLAs in the BJP-Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura (IPFT) coalition.

The current Tripura Assembly does not have members from the Congress or any other party.