The rise and fall of Left Front in Tripura

India

oi-Prakash KL

The
Left
Front,
which
ruled
Tripura
for
25
years
till
2018,
is
joined
hands
with
Congress
to
take
on
the
BJP,
which
witnessed
over
a
30-per
cent
rise
in
its
vote
share
in
the
last
assembly
elections.

Going
by
the
early
trends,
the
Left
Front
has
failed
to
overpower
the
BJP
despite
entering
the
seat-sharing
agreement
with
Congress.
According
to
the
seat
adjustment,
the
CPI-M
contested
43
seats,
and
its
Left
Front
partners
the
Forward
Block,
the
Revolutionary
Socialist
Party
and
the
Communist
Party
of
India
one
each.

The
Left
Front
has
supported
an
independent
candidate
in
the
Ramnagar
constituency
in
West
Tripura
and
the
Congress
contested
13
seats.

The
Rise
and
Fall
of
Left
Front
The
Left
Front
had
secured
just
one
seat
in
the
first-ever
election
held
in
the
state
in
1967.
However,
it
just
took
10
years
to
come
to
power
with
a
bang
in
Tripura
as
it
won
51
seats
in
1977.
The
Left
Front
governed
Tripura
from
1978-1988,
and
again
from
1993
to
2018.

Especially,
the
Left
Front
remained
the
dominant
force
between
1993
and
2018.
However,
the
BJP
gave
a
major
blow
and
the
saffron
party’s
victory
is
one
of
the
biggest
upsets
in
recent
years.
Although
it
lost
about
six
per
cent
vote
share,
the
seat
count
was
reduced
to
16.

The
below
graph
clearly
tells
the
story
of
the
Left
Front’s
rise
and
fall
in
Tripura.