BJP gets its first Rajya Sabha member from Tripura

The party’s Tripura chief Manik Saha has defeated his rival Bhanu Lal Saha of CPI(M)

BJP candidate and the party’s Tripura chief Manik Saha on Thursday won the election to the lone Rajya Sabha seat from the State. He defeated his rival Bhanu Lal Saha of the CPI(M).

Dr. Saha, a dentist by profession, got 40 votes as against 15 of Mr. Bhanu Lal Saha. This was the first defeat of the CPI(M) in a Rajya Sabha poll in Tripura over 30 years.

Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb has congratulated Dr. Manik Saha for his election as the first BJP Rajya Sabha member from Tripura.

The Assembly has now 56 members, but 55 votes were polled as one MLA Brishaketu Debbarma did not vote. Mr. Debbarma earlier resigned from the IPFT, the BJP’s ally, and from the Assembly and joined the Tipraha Indigenous Progressive Regional Alliance (TIPRA) led by the State’s royal scion Pradyot Kishore Debbarman.

The resignation of Mr. Debbarma is yet to be accepted by the Speaker and he continues to be an MLA. His Simna Assembly constituency in west Tripura is now a TIPRA stronghold.

Two BJP MLAs, including former Health Minister Sudip Roy Barman, had resigned from the Assembly and their resignations were accepted. BJP MLA Asish Das joined the Trinamool Congress without resigning, inviting his disqualification under the anti-defection law.

Veteran CPI(M) MLA and former Speaker Ramendra Chandra Debnath has recently passed away. Thus the number of CPI(M) MLAs came down to 15 from 16.