"Polls were a farce," says former Tripura CM Manik Sarkar on "unexpected" results

Agartala (Tripura) [India], March 5 : Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader and former CM Manik Sarkar on Saturday said the results of the Tripura Assembly polls were "unexpected" and alleged that the polls were converted to a "farce".
Talking to ANI, the former Tripura CM said, "It is unexpected as the government's performance was zero, democracy was attacked and the electorate's right to exercise franchise freely was snatched away. The polls were converted to a farce, and the Constitution didn't work."
He further alleged that several factors helped BJP in dividing the anti-BJP vote.
"The result is something different. One thing is clear, 60 per cent of the electorate didn't vote for BJP. The anti-BJP vote got divided. Several things happened. People have started saying who helped BJP to come to power again. It is very clear, but I don't like to mention any party's name," he added.
Notably, in the recently held Tripura Assembly election, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) returned to power by winning an absolute majority.
According to the Election Commission of India, BJP won 32 seats with a vote share of around 39 per cent.
Tipra Motha Party came second, winning 13 seats. Communist Party of India (Marxist) got 11 seats while Congress bagged three seats. The Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT) managed to open its account by winning one seat.
The CPI(M) and the Congress, arch rivals in Kerala, came together in the Northeast this time in a bid to oust the BJP from power. The combined vote share of CPI(M) and Congress remained around 33 per cent.
The BJP, which had never won a single seat in Tripura before 2018, stormed to power in the last election in alliance with IPFT and ousted the Left Front which had been in power in the border state for 35 years since 1978.
The BJP contested on 55 seats and its ally, IPFT, on six seats. But both allies had fielded candidates in the Ampinagar constituency in the Gomati district.
The Left contested on 47 and Congress on 13 seats, respectively. Of the total 47 seats, the CPM contested 43 seats while the Forward Bloc, Communist Party of India (CPI) and Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) contested one seat each.
The CPI(M)-led Left Front ruled the state for nearly four decades, with a gap between 1988 and 1993, when the Congress was in power but this time both parties joined hands with the intention to oust BJP from power.