In yet another major setback for the opposition Communist Party and the Congress Party in Tripura ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) made an easy sweep in the by-elections of Dhanpur and Boxanagar assembly constituency to bloom Lotus in the entire Sonamura subdivision of the Sepahijala district.

BJP candidate Tafajjal Hossain who contested against the CPI-M’s Mizan Hossain in Boxanagar assembly constituency got 34,146 votes and swept the elections by 30,237, while his rival candidate Hossain got only 3,909 votes.

On the other hand, the BJP candidate Bindu Debnath bagged the Dhanpur seat, which has a significant tribal population, by 18,871 votes. Debnath got 30,017 votes, and his nearest rival Kaushik Chanda of the CPI-M got 11,146 votes.

The bye-elections, which took place on September 5, witnessed a respectable voter turnout of 86.50 per cent in the two constituencies. The counting was conducted under tight security measures at the Sonamura Girls’ School. Total six rounds of counting was conducted in both segments.

Meanwhile, the opposition CPI-M, which faced a major setback ahead of the Lok Sabha elections had boycotted the counting of votes of the by-elections in the 2 seats and accused the Election Commission of failing to address their concerns regarding extensive electoral manipulation. The CPI-M earlier on September 5 demanded countermand of the entire election process and also demanded fresh elections.

The by-polls in Boxanagar were necessitated due to the demise of the sitting CPI(M) legislator Samsul Haque. In Dhanpur, on the other hand, Union minister Pratima Bhoumik, who contested the state assembly elections earlier this year, resigned from the seat days after her election.