AGARTALA: The ruling CPI-M in Tripura today won the two Assembly seats, Barjala (SC) and Khowai, by defeating Congress and TMC candidates respecitively.
CPI-M candidate Jhumu Sarkar trounced his nearest BJP rival Shistamohan Das by a margin of 3,374 votes in Barjala (SC) constituency. CPI-M secured 15,769 votes, while BJP garnered 12,395 votes.
By-poll in the constituency was necessitated due to the resignation of Congress MLA Jitendra Sarkar in June last.
Congress secured only 804 votes, while Trinamool Congress (TMC) 5,629 votes.
In Khowai constituency, CPI-M candidate Biswajit Datta trounced his nearest TMC candidate Manoj Das by a margin of 16,047 votes. CPI-M secured 24810 votes and TMC 8763 votes.
The seat fell vacant due to death of CPI-M MLA Samir Deb Sarkar, a veteran party leader.
The opposition Congress candidate, who secured 13859 votes in the last Assembly elections in 2013, secured only 696 votes in this election.
Congress suffered a split in June last when six legislators resigned from the party and joined TMC.