NEW DELHI: The BJP on Saturday announced its first list of 48 candidates, dropping six sitting MLAs for the upcoming Tripura assembly elections.
Party leaders Anil Baluni and Sambit Patra announced the BJP’s candidates at a press conference in the party headquarters in the national capital.
The party has fielded chief minister Manik Saha as candidate from the Town Bordowali constituency and Union minister Pratima Bhoumik from Dhanpur seat. Former chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb will contest from the Bordowali seat.
Vimmi Majumdar, Subhash Chandra Das, Arun Chandra Bhowmik, Virendra Kishore Dev Burman, Parimal Debbarma, Viplav Kumar are those MLAs who have been dropped.
The party, who is currently in power in Tripura, has given ticket to 11 women candidates in the state assembly election. 11 women candidates’ names include Union minister Pratima Bhowmik Dhanpur, Santana Chakma Pechanthal, Malina Devnath, Jubraj Nagar Suchitra Dev Verma, Ambasa, Patal Kanya Jamatiya, Ompinagar, Antaradev Sarkar, Kamalasagar, Kalyani Rai, Teliamura, Himani Dev Verma, Golaghati, Meena Rani Sarkar, Badarghat Sapna Mazumdar, Rajnagar.
Tripura, Meghalaya and Nagaland is set to go to polls in February to elect a new government.
The BJP ended Left’s 25-year rule in 2018 and went on to form the government in Tripura, picking Biplab Deb as the chief minister. However, the party removed Deb and appointed Manik Saha as CM in May last year.
Elections for the 60-member Tripura assembly are scheduled for February 16.