By IANS,
Agartala : After West Bengal and Kerala, the ruling Left Front in Tripura got a jolt in the civic polls with opposition Congress Tuesday securing majority in two of the 15 Nagar Panchayats (urban councils).
An upbeat Congress has wrested the Sabroom (southern Tripura) and Ambassa (northern Tripura) councils from the ruling Left Front which, however, retained control of the remaining 13 urban civic bodies besides the 140-year-old Agartala Municipal Council (AMC).
According to the state election commission, the Left parties have so far won handsomely in 187 of the total of 230 wards while Congress bagged 43.
In the politically important 35-seat (wards) AMC, the Left Front has retained supremacy bagging 27 seats. However, the Front this time conceded eight seats to the Congress, which had won five in the previous 2005 civic polls.
The Congress could not secure any seats in Sonamura, Khowai and Ranir Bazar councils in western Tripura and Belonia and Santir Bazar in southern Tripura.
The civic elections in AMC and 15 Nagar Panchayats across the northeastern state were held Saturday. Counting of votes was conducted Tuesday.
In the 2005 civic poll, the Left Front had got 168 seats out of the total of 195 seats and Congress got the rest 27. In 2000, the Left Front and Congress had won 126 and 12 seats respectively out of the total of 143 seats while Trinamool Congress had held 5 seats.
In the Saturday’s civic polls, with half the total of 230 seats reserved for women, the Trinamool Congress supported the Congress while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) unsuccessfully contested in 57 seats.
In his reaction, CPI-M state secretary Bijan Dhar said: “The mandate of the people in the civic polls is a verdict in favour of development, peace and achievement maintained by the Left Front in Tripura.”
“The Left parties would review why it lost the Sabroom and Ambassa Nagar Panchayats and would take remedial measures,” he added.
Meanwhile, Congress leader Subal Bhowmik said the “people have given their verdict against the corruption and failure of the Left Front government and misutilisation of central funds”.
“The civic polls results would boost the Congress to do better in the next assembly elections, slated for 2013,” he added.