Agartala, Jan 29: The TIPRA Motha led by royal scion Pradyot Kishore Debbarma on Saturday night released the party’s first list of candidates for the upcoming Tripura Assembly Elections in 20 seats including eight non-tribal constituencies in the state.
The party has nominated 12 candidates in ST reserved seats, two in Scheduled Caste (SC) reserved seats and6 in unreserved seats. Of the 60 Assembly seats, 20 are reserved for Scheduled Tribes (ST). The listing didn’t have Debbarma’s call in it.
The party’s second list of candidates is expected to release soon.
On Friday, Debbarma declared the TIPRA Motha will fight the polls alone, two days after a party delegation failed to get an assurance from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led central government on their demand for a separate state for indigenous people.
The party’s candidate list came within hours after another tribal party in the state, the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT) declared to continue their alliance with the ruling BJP and finalised their seat sharing on Saturday.
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Debbarma had earlier written to the IPFT leadership for the unification of both parties for the state polls saying that they are fighting for the same demand seeking a permanent constitutional solution for the indigenous people.
As per the candidate list, former IPFT legislator Brishaketu Debbarma, who switched over to the TIPRA Motha in 2021, will contest from Simna, his home turf.
Subodh Debbarma will contest from Charilam constituency against deputy chief minister Jishnu Devvarma.
Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) chief executive member Purna Chandra Jamatia will contest from Bagma and his deputy Animesh Debbarma will contest against former IPFT supremo Narendra Chandra Debbarma’s daughter Jayanti Debbarma from Asharambari seat.
TIPRA Motha spokesperson Paul Dangshu will contest from Karamcherra against newly-joined Congress leader Diba Chandra Hrangkhawl.
Hrangkhawl was one among the six legislators who switched over to the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in 2016 and then to the BJP a year later.
The state will go to polls on February 16 and the counting of votes will take place on March 2.
