Amit Shah thanks Tripura voters, calls BJP's win a victory of PM Modi's development politics

Agartala: Jubilant at the party's scintillating performance in the northeastern state Tripura, BJP president Amit Shah on Monday said that it was the victory of PM Narendra Modi's politics of development.

He also thanked the people of the state for the massive support to the party.

I thank brothers and sisters of Tripura for their massive support to BJP. This is the victory of PM @narendramodi’s politics of development and his commitment to the welfare of North-Eastern region of India. — Amit Shah (@AmitShah) March 3, 2018

Congratulations to Shri @rammadhavbjp ji, Shri @Sunil_Deodhar ji, Shri @himantabiswa ji, Shri @BjpBiplab ji and I also applaud the hard work & dedication of our karyakartas of @BJP4Tripura unit which has made this historic win a reality. — Amit Shah (@AmitShah) March 3, 2018

The BJP on Saturday to stormed to power in Tripura in alliance with the tribal-based IPFT outfit, crushing the CPI-M led Left Front in one of the country`s last remaining red bastions.

The saffron outfit was a virtual political non-entity all these years in the tiny state, where it had drawn a blank in terms of seats and secured only 1.5 percent of votes in the Assembly polls five years back.

The elections were held for 59 seats, and counter nded in one following the death of a ruling Left Front major CPI-M candidate a week before the February 18, 2018, polls.

The Left Front has ruled the state uninterruptedly for the past quarter of a century. In the last Assembly elections in 2013, the LF had secured 50 seats while remaining 10 seats went to the Congress, which this time seems unlikely to open its account.

A total of 290 candidates, including 23 women, of the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist, Communist Party of India, Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress and many independents, were in the fray.

Balloting in Charilam (reserved for the tribals) has been deferred to March 12, 2018, after CPI-M candidate Ramendra Narayan Debbarma died a week before the polls.

Over 92 per cent (excluding 50,700 postal ballots) of Tripura`s 2,536,589 voters cast their votes on February 18 in a peaceful election, setting a new record in India`s electoral history.

(With IANS inputs)