Manik Saha, Sudip Barman, Pradyot Manikya, Manik Sarkar & More: Meet Top 9 Faces of Tripura Tug-of-War

The high-decibel campaign for the Tripura Assembly elections, marked by bitter political attacks and promises of development, came to an end on Tuesday. The north-eastern state is all set for a triangular fight this time, with the BJP-IPFT alliance trying to maintain supremacy, the Left-Congress alliance trying to capture power, and the regional outfit Tipra Motha riding on its landslide victory After making his debut in the election. Performance in the Autonomous Council elections

Polling for the 60-member assembly will be held on February 16, while the counting of votes will take place on March 2. Polling will take place at 3,328 polling stations, of which 1,100 are sensitive and 28 sensitive.

As the state is all set, News18 takes a look at nine prominent faces and their prospects:

Dr. Manik Saha: The Chief Minister of Tripura is contesting from the town Bordovali. A Congressman, Saha joined the BJP in 2016 and was made the party’s state president in 2021. Saha, who became a Rajya Sabha MP last year, replaces Biplab Deb, who was asked to resign as chief minister last year. Saha contested the by-election of Town Bordovali and became MLA by getting around 51 percent votes. A prominent dental surgeon, Saha is known to be polite and diplomatic, but political experts say he is forced to shoulder the burden of Deb’s shortcomings.

Rajeev Bhattacharya: BJP’s state president will make his election debut from Banmalipur seat. Bhattacharya, who was the vice-president of the Tripura state BJP under Deb, was appointed BJP chief last year when Saha became the chief minister. Prior to this he was the general secretary of the BJP. An old warrior of the BJP, he has an RSS background.

Pratima Bhowmick: BJP’s Union minister Bhowmik contested from Dhanpur constituency in 2018 and lost to former chief minister Manik Sarkar. He has been fielded again from Dhanpur by his party and there is talk in political circles that if the party comes to power, he may get a bigger role.

Jishnu Dev Burman: The Deputy Chief Minister of Tripura represents the Charilam constituency. Barman, who belongs to the royal family, had won from Charilam in 2018 by a margin of over 25,000 votes.

Jitendra Chowdhary: A strong tribal leader, CPIM state secretary Chowdhary is contesting from the Sabram constituency. He has been informally projected as the chief ministerial candidate if the Left is voted to power in the February 16 elections. Chowdhary was inducted into the Central Committee in 2018. He is the President of the Swadeshi Tripuri wing of the party GMP and the National Convener of the Adivasi Adhikar Rashtriya Manch.

Sudip Roy Burman: Barman, a six-time MLA from Agartala, joined the BJP in 2018 but soon returned to the Congress. Till date he has never been defeated.

Birajit Sinha: State Congress President Sinha is contesting from Kailasahar and has been winning from this seat for a long time. However, last time he was defeated by Muffshar Ali of CPI(M).

Pradyot Manikya: Tripura’s royal scion, Manikya stayed with the Congress for many years until he broke away to form Tipra Motha. Though he is not in the fray, all eyes are on how the kingmaker’s party fares in the elections. Manikya often speaks about the rights of indigenous people and has called for the creation of Tipraland. He won 18 out of 28 seats in the Tripura Tribal Autonomous Elections, making him a force to be reckoned with. All parties have tried to forge an alliance with him but his demand is clear – he will associate with a party that promises in writing to build Greater Tipraland.

Manik Sarkar: The former chief minister of Tripura served the state for more than 20 years. This is the first time he will not contest the polls but is campaigning across the state to garner support for his allies.

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