Guwahati: Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha won the by-election for the Town Bardowali seat on Sunday by a margin of 6,104, according to the Election Commission.
A BJP candidate for chief minister, he received 17,181 votes, which is 51.63 percent of the total votes cast.
Asish Kumar Saha of the Congress received 11,077 votes, or 33.29 percent of the total votes, to defeat him.
Raghunath Sarkar of the Forward Bloc received 3,376 votes, placing the Left Front in third place (10.15 per cent).
While addressing to media, the Chief Minister said, “I want to express my gratitude to the voters. The BJP’s workers have triumphed in this. I had anticipated a slightly larger margin. Results, however, support the CPI(M) and Congress’s perspective. Although people did not interpret this agreement favourably, we will proceed accordingly in the future.”
“Since there has been post-election violence in the past, we have asked people to avoid it. The key element is people’s trust, and we need to make sure they don’t experience any difficulties. I’d also like to ask the opposing parties to keep things peaceful ” he added.
Manik Saha, a Rajya Sabha member, was named chief minister of the state last month following the abrupt resignation of the previous chief minister, Biplab Deb. He needed to win this by-election to keep his position as chief minister.
He will now retire from his position as a member of the parliament in accordance with the rules.
A byelection was held in the Town Bardowali seat after Asish Kumar Saha left the BJP and joined the Congress in February.