India: Massive victory for Left Front in Tripura

Left Front has won a massive victory in Tripura state's three-
tier Panchayat (village committees) polls. The Left Front unites 
the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the Communist Party of 
India, Forward Bloc and Revolutionary Socialist Party. Out of the 
513 village Panchayats in the state, results for 502 had come in 
by the time of filing of this report. Of these, the LF had won a 
majority in 468, conceding 28 to the Congress, while there was a 
tie in the remaining six.

Out of the total of 299 Panchayat Samity seats, results for 270 
have been declared so far, with the Left Front bagging 258 and 
the Congress 12.

Results for 74 out of the total 82 Zilla Parishad seats have been 
declared. Of these, 73 have gone in favour of the Left Front 
while the Congress had to remain content with one.

The number of seats won by the Left Front this time is more than 
that in the 1999 polls in all tiers. It has attained a majority 
in 95 percent of the Gram Panchayats, and also retained all the 
Panchayat Samities and Zila Parishads in the state.

The surging support for the Left Front in rural Tripura is 
further testified by the sizeable number of seats wrested by the 
Left Front from the Congress in this election. 

In a statement issued on July 22, the Tripura Left Front 
committee congratulated the rural people of the state for giving 
a massive victory for the Left Front candidates in all tiers of 
the Panchayat election.

The statement said through this poll verdict, the people of 
Tripura have proclaimed their desire to struggle for maintaining 
peace and democracy and for carrying forward the process of 
progress of the state.

Highly valuing the increased faith and trust reposed in it, the 
Left Front assured the people that, with a still greater sense of 
responsibility, it would advance their struggle for a better 
life. The Left Front also extended cooperation to all the 
Panchayat bodies, irrespective of party affiliations, in their 
drive to make them more accessible to the people and to maintain 
peace and harmony in rural areas.

* * *

India News Network