GUWAHATI: The Congress is contesting 17 seats in Tripura, four more than what was allotted to it by allies – the Left parties. The party announced the names of its candidates on Saturday.
The Congress and the Left parties forged a pre-poll alliance in Tripura for the first time this election. Two days ago, the Left parties announced the names of their 47 candidates – 43 of them from the CPI-M. The Congress was upset that it was allotted only 13 seats.
The party said it had initially sought to contest from 27 of the state’s 60 seats and then scaled it down to 23 following opposition from Left parties. Despite the seat-sharing arrangement, the Congress and the Left will now be against each other in four seats.
The Congress said it was contesting in 17 seats “as per the wishes of the people”.
The Congress’ lone MLA in the state, Sudip Roy Barman, would contest from the Agartala seat. He had won the last election as a BJP candidate and was inducted into the ministry but resigned from the Assembly and the party in February last year after falling out with the then Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb.
Congress state president and former MLA Birajit Sinha will contest from the Kailasahar seat. Former state chief Gopal Roy has been pitted against BJP state president Rajib Bhattacharjee in the Banamalipur seat and former MLA Ashish Kumar Saha will be up against Chief Minister Manik Saha of the BJP in the Bordowali seat.