Both the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress and the CPI-M in Tripura welcoming the announcement of the elections to the two Lok Sabha seats and by-election in a assembly seat said that they are fully ready to fight the elections.

Ruling BJP spokesperson Nabendu Bhattacharjee said that his party is fully prepared to face the elections and said party ‘Karyakartas’ (functionary) like ‘Panna Pramukhs’ and ‘Vistaraks’ were deployed in the field long back and the poll campaign is at its peak already.

“Our party leaders and ‘Karyakartas’ have been on the ground for a long time. They are going to the doorsteps of each and every family with the message of strengthening the hand of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. We are confident of victory and we feel people of the nation have made up their mind to see Modiji as PM for a third term,” Bhattacharjee told the media.

He said that the BJP is confident that while it would win in both parliamentary seats in Tripura and its opponents would not raise above one lakh votes in either of the seats.

Tripura state Congress president and the party’s Lok Sabha candidate in West Tripura seat –Ashish Kumar Saha said that the party has been getting good response among the electors during the campaign.

“We are campaigning towards victory. People will give their mandate fearlessly. Our victory is certain. Unlike previous elections, we want a free, fair and violence free elections, ” the Congress leader said and informed that a delegation of party leaders has recently met Tripura Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) to voice concerns about the poll process and urged him to conduct the violence free polling.

A CPI-M leader said that the party wrote several leaders to both the Chief Election Commissioner and the CEO urging them to conduct a violence free election in the state.

The elections to the Tripura West Lok Sabha seat and the by-elections to the Ramnagar assembly seat would be held on April 19 while in the Tripura East Lok Sabha seat (ST) would be held on April 26.

The BJP won both seats for the first time in 2019, with Union Minister of State for Social Justice Pratima Bhoumik (Tripura West) and teacher-turned-politician Rebati Tripura (Tripura East) emerging triumphant.

However, both have been dropped this time and Maharani Kriti Singh Debbarma and former Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb were named for the Tripura East Lok Sabha and Tripura West seats, respectively.

A resident of Chhattisgarh, Debbarma, of the erstwhile princely ruling family and a social activist, is the elder sister of Tipra-Motha supremo and royal scion Pradyot Kishore Debbarma.