Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha has claimed that the results of the Village Committee (VC) elections showed voters had rejected the CPI(M)-Congress alliance and its ideology.
Speaking on October 6, Saha said he had earlier predicted that the NDA would win more than 90 per cent of the seats and claimed the results had matched those expectations. The poll results, however, showed the Tipra Motha Party winning 3,428 of the 4,594 seats, while the BJP secured 859 and the IPFT 33.
“We are being told repeatedly here that we have worked as we have done before. We went to the elections and got more than what we expected. This is good for Tripura, and in the future, we hope that we will work together in the plains and hills and for the development of Tripura,” Saha said.
He urged opposition parties to examine the reasons for their repeated electoral defeats and accused them of failing to understand the aspirations of voters.
“I will tell the opposition the same thing again and again: they need to think about why this is happening to them,” he said, adding that the ideology they relied on had been rejected by voters “again and again”.
Saha said opposition parties continued to depend on outdated political messaging despite voters’ changing expectations.
“Everyone knows what people really want, what people need, and what they expect from the government or the various levels of government institutions,” he said.
“These are already backdated now. These will not be able to come in the future under any circumstances,” he added.
The Chief Minister also criticised opposition parties for questioning electronic voting machines and the Election Commission after losing elections.
“Whenever they lose, they blame the EVMs and the Election Commission. And they have repeated the same in the aftermath of the declaration of the VC elections,” Saha said.
Saha had earlier described the NDA’s performance in the VC elections as expected and said the alliance had anticipated a strong showing.
“Look, this was expected. We had stated earlier as well that we would achieve good results in the VC elections, and the NDA would perform strongly. The results are turning out exactly on those lines,” he said.
He said the outcome offered a positive outlook for Tripura and reiterated his government’s vision of building a “New Tripura” by bringing different sections of society together.
“I believe the coming days will be very good for Tripura. We want to build a ‘New Tripura’ by taking everyone along—indigenous communities (Janajati), general communities (Jati), Manipuris, and minorities,” he said.
Saha added that the result reflected Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of inclusive development in the state.
