The BJP won the Dhanpur seat for the first time in the Assembly polls held seven months ago and retained it in the by-election. In a significant victory, the ruling party wrested the minority-dominated Boxanagar seat from the CPI(M) in the bypoll. With these victories, the BJP s tally in the 60-member Assembly increased to 33. Its ally, IPFT, has one MLA, while the Tipra Motha has 13 MLAs, the CPI(M) 10 and the Congress three.
The ruling BJP candidates in Tripura's Dhanpur and Boxanagar Assembly constituencies established comfortable margins over their CPI(M) rivals, even as the counting of votes was in progress on Friday under tight security measures.Election .
The Opposition Congress-UDF on Friday retained the Puthuppally assembly constituency in Kerala as its candidate Chandy Oommen won by a margin of over 36,000 votes in the bypoll, Election Commission sources said.
The BJP has had a clean sweep in both Assembly constituencies in Tripura where the byelections were held, wresting the seat from CPI (M) in Boxanagar and retaining it in Dhanpur.
BJP s Tafajjal Hossain won the Boxanagar seat, which has around 66 per cent minority voters, by 30,237 votes. Hossain got 34,146 votes, while his nearest rival Mizan Hossain of the CPI(M) got 3,909 votes.