CPI-M snatches one seat, retains another in Tripura

The ruling Left Front led by the CPI-M on Tuesday wrested one assembly seat from the Congress and kept hold of another one in Tripura in the by-elections, increasing its tally in the 60-member assembly to 51.

The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) snatched the Scheduled Caste reserved Barjala seat and retained Khowai seat, defeating the nearest rivals, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Trinamool Congress (TMC), respectively, said the election officials.

In Barjala, CPI-M youth leader Jhumu Sarkar defeated BJP’s Shista Mohan Das, a former bureaucrat, by 3,374 Votes and CPI-M’s Biswajit Datta trounced TMC’s Manoj Das , a former Left leader, by 16,094 votes in Khowai.