New Delhi: Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar on Sunday congratulated the people of his state for handing a “landslide victory” in panchayat elections to the ruling Left Front, which has clinched over 95 per cent of the seats.
“I thank the people of Tripura for delivering a landslide victory by giving more than 95 per cent of the seats to the Left Front in the just-concluded elections to the three-tier panchayats in the state,” he said here.
Here to attend the CPI(M) Politburo meeting, Sarkar said, “The people of Tripura have demonstrated and reiterated their faith and confidence in the Left Front government.”
However, he said there was “no room for complacency and self-boasting over this spectacular victory. This has only further heightened the responsibility of the Left Front and, obviously, the Left Front government”. “We will have to prepare ourselves to discharge our responsibilities and tasks in a befitting manner with due guidance and cooperation of the people of Tripura at large,” Sarkar said while thanking officers, employees, the police and security forces for the smooth conduct of the elections.
Polls to the three-tier panchayat system was held on July 15 with around 90 per cent of the voters exercising their franchise.
The elections were held for 5,624 seats, including 419 in 35 panchayat samitis and 116 in eight zila parishads. The remaining seats belonged to gram panchayats.
The CPI(M) Politburo said the Left Front has swept the eight Zila Parishads (ZP) and “reduced the opposition to no consequence.”
Of the total 116 ZP seats, CPI(M) won 115, conceding just one seat to Congress. In the Panchayat Samitis, too, “the opposition was decimated” with Left Front securing a majority in all the 35 samitis.
Of the 418 of the total 419 panchayat samiti seats for which results were declared, Left Front won 409 and Congress only nine, the CPI(M) statement said. Of the 591 Gram Panchayats, Left Front secured majority in 563 with Congress winning 18 followed by BJP (5), Trinamool Congress (3) and Others (2).
In 22 blocks, no opposition party could get a majority even in a single gram panchayat.
While Congress had won 83 gram panchayats in the 2009 elections, this time their tally was reduced to 18 with Left Front snatching away 65 gram panchayats from them, the party said.
At a press conference in Agartala, CPI(M) State Secretary Bijan Dhar and Secretariat member Gautam Das thanked the people of Tripura for reposing their faith once again in the Left Front by delivering “a huge and unprecedented mandate.” (PTI)
