Agartala, July 24 (Inditop.com) Despite the drubbing in the nationwide Lok Sabha polls, the ruling Left Front in Tripura has won handsomely in the three-tier local self-government elections, which the Communists attributed to its “good organisational work” and development programmes in the northeastern state.
The main opposition Congress has done marginally better this time in the Gram Panchayats, Panchayat Samitis and Zilla Parishads.
Of the 511 Gram Panchayats (village councils), for which polls were held Monday, the Left Front got a majority in 416 GPs, while the Congress triumphed in 82 GPs – 49 more than in the last election in 2004.
Though the Congress could not secure majority in any of the 23 Panchayat Samitis and four Zilla Parishads, the opposition party managed 28 seats in Panchayat Samitis (out of 299 seats) and seven seats in Zilla Parishads (out of a total of 82 seats), while the remaining seats have gone in favour of the Left parties.
In the 2004 polls, the Congress had won 13 Panchayat Samiti seats and only one Zilla Parishad seat.
The Trinamool Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) could not open their accounts even in the village panchayats. The electoral performance of the Congress in north and western Tripura was better this time.
Out of 47 village committees (equivalent to Gram Panchayats) of tribal autonomous district council areas, 38 VCs were won by Left Front while Congress and its ally Indigenous Nationalist Party of Tripura (INPT) got only nine. Left nominees were re-elected in by-polls of urban civic bodies in Agartala, Kailashahar and Belonia.
The victorious Left Front said: “The result of the three-tier panchayats, considered to be the most important political organ in rural areas, has proved the people’s will for development, peace and a strong democratic mindset.”
“There was little or no effect of national politics on the Tripura panchayat outcome,” a CPI-M statement said.
CPI-M state secretary Bijan Dhar attributed the success achieved to “good organisational work of the Left parties and development programmes implemented by the Left Front government.”
“Opposition parties were rejected for their anti-development approach and anti-people policies.”
Congress leaders said they could have done better “if the party was more organised and united before the polls”.
