According to ECI, the last date for filing a nomination is on August 17 and the last date for withdrawing candidature is on August 21 next.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Tuesday announced the assembly by-election schedule for two constituencies in Tripura.
According to the announcement, the two assembly constituencies of the state, Boxanagar and Dhanpur constituencies under the Sepahijala District will hold by-elections on September 5 next. The counting of votes and the results will be announced on September 8 next.
Notably, by-polls will also be held in Jharkhand, Kerala, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, and Uttarakhand in the same schedule.
According to ECI, the last date for filing a nomination is on August 17 and the last date for withdrawing candidature is on August 21 next.
The Boxanagar Assembly constituency fell vacant after the elected MLA Samsul Haque died recently. Haque contested the poll as a CPIM candidate.
By-poll in the Dhanpur Constituency was necessitated after BJP’s elected candidate Pratima Bhoumik resigned even before taking the oath as an MLA. Notably, Bhoumik is currently the Union Minister of State.
Speculations over the possible BJP candidates in Boxanagar and Dhanpur are already rife. Anticipating the by-polls, BJP had already intensified its outreach programmes in both constituencies. Recently, several joining meetings were held in which, according to BJP sources, a large number of Congress and CPIM supporters quit their old parties and joined BJP.
Even as several names are doing rounds in the saffron camp, State leaders are tight-lipped on the issue.
Muslim voters are a crucial factor in both constituencies while the presence of voters of different Indigenous communities is also a matter to reckon with.
CPIM, after losing the status of the main Opposition Party to the TIPRA Motha Party in the 2023 Assembly Polls, is expected to jump in the fray with its full force. While it will make a desperate attempt to keep Boxanagar under its grips, the Red Party will also try to regain ground in Dhanpur from where former Chief Minister and CPIM Politburo member Manik Sarkar contested in 2018 and won. However, Sarkar did not contest in the 2023 election and CPIM lost the seat to the BJP.