The 2008 Tripura Legislative Assembly election took place in a single phase on 23 February to elect the Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) from each of the 60 Assembly Constituencies in Tripura, India. The votes were counted on 7 March 2008, with the use of electronic voting machines (EVMs). The results were ready within the day.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M))-led alliance, the Left Front, retained control of the Assembly by winning 49 seats and securing a more than a two-thirds majority. This provided the CPI(M) with a fourth consecutive governing term.

CPI(M) leader Manik Sarkar was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Tripura for the fourth time on 10 March 2008 along with 11 cabinet Ministers.

Contesting parties 312 candidates registered to contest the election.

PartySymbolAllianceSeats contested Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)) Left Front 56 Communist Party of India (CPI) Left Front 2 Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) Left Front2 All India Forward Bloc (AIFB) Left Front (contested alone)12 Indian National Congress (INC) UPA48Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)NDA49All India Trinamool Congress22Amra Bangali 19Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation 14Indigenous Nationalist Party of Twipra (INPT) 11Lok Janshakti Party UPA8Nationalist Congress PartyUPA5Janata Dal (United) NDA2Party of Democratic Socialism (India) Left Front (contested alone)1Independents (IND)62 Total313

Highlights Election to the Tripura Legislative Assembly were held on February 23, 2008. The election were held in a single phase for all the 60 assembly constituencies.

Participating Political Parties

# Partytype Abbreviation Party National Parties 1 BJP Bhartiya Janta Party 2 CPI COMMUNIST PARTY OF INDIA 3 CPM Communist Party of India (Marxist) 4 INC Indian National Congress 5 NCP Nationalist Congress Party State Parties 6 INPT Indigenous Nationalist Party of Twipra State parties – other states 7 AIFB All India Forward Bloc 8 AITC All India Trinamool Congress 9 CPI(ML)(L) Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) (Liberation) 10 JD(U) Janata Dal (United) 11 LJP Lok Jan Shakti Party 12 RSP Revolutionary Socialist Party Registered (Unrecognised) Parties 13 AMB Amra Bangalee 14 PDS Party For Democratic Socialism Independents 15 IND Independent

No. of Constituencies Type of Constituencies GEN SC ST Total No. of Constituencies 33 7 20 60

Electors Men Women Total No.of Electors 1,038,782 999,219 2,038,001 No.of Electors who Voted 942,604 916,518 1,859,122 Polling Percentage 90.74% 91.72% 91.22%

Performance of Women Candidates Men Women Total No.of Contestants 282 31 313 Elected 57 03 60

List of Candidates Candidates from Prominent Parties/Alliance ConstituencyLFTUPABJP1Simna (ST)Pranab DebbarmaRabindra DebbarmaDid not contest2MohanpurSubhas Chandra DebnathRatan Lal NathDhirendra Debnath3Bamutia (SC)Haricharan SarkarPrakash Chandra DasSamir Biswas4BarjalaSankar Prasad DattaDipak Kumar RoyPulak Kumar Debnath5KhayerpurPabitra KarRatan ChakrabortyPranjit Banik6AgartalaBikash RoySudip Roy BarmanMilan Chakraborty7RamnagarRatan DasSurajit DattaNilima Ghosh8Town BordowaliDr. Sudhir Chandra MajumderSudhir Ranjan MajumdarRakhal Chakraborty9BanamalipurPrasanta KapaliGopal Chandra RoySudhindra Chandra Dasgupta10MajlishpurManik DeyDipak NagParesh Chandra Saha11Mandaibazar (ST)Monoranjan DebbarmaJagadish DebbarmaDid not contest12Takarjala (ST)Niranjan DebbarmaRajeshwar DebbarmaDid not contest13Pratapgarh (SC)Anil SarkarBimal Chandra BarmanArjun Ch. Das14BadharghatSubrata ChakrabortyDilip SarkarRama Prasad Paul15KamalasagarNarayan Chandra ChoudhuriMatilal SahaTulsi Banik16BishalgarhBhanulal SahaSamir Ranjan BarmanSubrata Sarkar17Golaghati (ST)Kesab DebbarmaAshok DebbarmaDid not contest18Charilam (ST)Narayan RupiniNarendra Chandra DebbarmaDid not contest19BoxanagarSahid ChoudhuriBillal MiaGopal Chandra Das20Nalchar (SC)Sukumar BarmanSukla DasSujit Das21SonamuraSubal RudraSubal BhowmikSwapan Chandra Saha22DhanpurManik SarkarShah AlamDid not contest23Ramchandraghat (ST)Padma Kumar DebbarmaAnanta DebbarmaDid not contest24KhowaiSamir Deb SarkarArun Kumar KarDhananjoy Debnath25Asharambari (ST)Sachindra DebbarmaAmiya Kumar DebbarmaDhanbhakti Jamatia26Pramodenagar (ST)Aghore DebbarmaBidyut DebbarmaDid not contest27KalyanpurManindra Chandra DasKajal Chandra DasHarishankar Paul28Krishnapur (ST)Khagendra JamatiaSabda Kumar JamatiaMania Debbarma29TeliamuraGouri DasAshok Kumar BaidyaLaxmi Kanta Sarkar30Bagma (ST)Naresh Chandra JamatiaRati Mohan JamatiaRaj Kumar Jamatia31Salgarh (SC)Partha DasMira DasRabindra Kumar Das32RadhakishorepurJoygobinda Deb RoyPranajit Singha RoySwapan Adhikari33MatarbariMadhab Chandra SahaBibhu Kumari DeviMadhu Sudhan Bhattacharjee34KakrabanKeshab MajumderRajib SamaddarBasana Adhikari35Rajnagar (SC)Sudhan DasBikash Chandra DasRadha Rani Das (Bhowmik)36BeloniaBasu Dev MajumderAmal MallikKeshab Chandra Sarkar37Santirbazar (ST)Manindra ReangGouri Sankar ReangParikshit Debbarma38HrishyamukhBadal ChoudhuryDilip ChoudhurySudharshan Majumder39Jolaibari (ST)Jashabir TripuraBrajendra Mog ChaudhuriDid not contest40Manu (ST)Jitendra ChoudhuryThaikhai MogMrathaiong Mog41SabroomRita Kar (Majumder)Did not contestRanjit Roy Chowdhury42Ampinagar (ST)Daniel JamatiaNagendra JamatiaDid not contest43BirganjManoranjan AcharjeeJawhar SahaHaradhan Saha44Raima Valley (ST)Sri Lalit Mohan TripuraSri Rabindra DebbarmaDid not contest45KamalpurSmt Bijoy Lakshmi SinghaSri Manoj Kanti DebSri Uma Kanta Debnath46Surma (SC)Sri Sudir DasSri Sukha Ranjan DasSri Nishi Kanta Sarkar47Salema (ST)Prasanta DebbarmaJadu Mohan TripuraMahendra Debbarma48Kulai (ST)Smt. Sabitri DebbarmaBijoy Kumar HrangkhawlSri Kalpa Mohan Tripura49Chhawmanu (ST)Nirajoy TripuraShyama Charan TripuraSri Jagat Jyoti Chakma50Pabiachhara (SC)Bidhu Bhusan MalakarPhanindra DasBhagaban Das51FatikroyBijoy RoySunil Chandra DasBireswar Singha52ChandipurTapan ChakrabortyRudrendu BhattacharjeeKaberi Sinha53KailasaharJayanta ChakrabortyBirajit SinhaSantosh Debroy54KurtiFayzur RahmanNurul HaqueSankar Kodal55KadamtalaBijita NathJyotirmoy NathSukanta Nath56DharmanagarAmitabha DattaBiswa Bandhu SenTamal Kanti Deb57JubarajnagarRamendra Chandra DebnathBiva Rani NathPijush Nath58Pencharthal (ST)Arun Kumar ChakmaSushil Kumar ChakmaManishankar Chakma59PanisagarSubodh DasRadhika Ranjan DasDhananjay Debnath60Kanchanpur (ST)Rajendra ReangSanjit Kumar ReangUpendra Reang

Background Except for a one term period of Congress government between 1988 and 1993, the CPI(M) was the dominant governing party in the state since 1978.

The previous elections to the 9th Tripura Legislative Assembly was held in 2003 and the term for this Assembly was set to expire on 19 March 2008. The Election Commission of India (ECI) announced fresh elections for the 10th Tripura Legislative Assembly on 14 January 2008. Of the 60 constituencies for the 2008 election, 20 were reserved for Scheduled Tribes and seven reserved for Scheduled Castes. Elections in all polling stations were held using electronic voting machines.

The CPI(M), headed by Manik Sarkar, had formed the Government in the 9th Tripura Assembly after being re-elected in 2003. The Left Front had won 41 of the 60 seats.

Campaign A total of 313 candidates contested this election.

Election Day Election Day (23 Feb 2008) was peaceful and passed without any incidents of violence in this state that has traditionally faced insurgency from militant outfits. Unprecedented security arrangements were in place for this election - 20,000 paramilitary personnel from the Border Security Force, Indo-Tibetan Border Police and Central Reserve Police Force supported by air surveillance.

Voter turnout across the state was over 90%, a record high for any state in India. This beat the previous record of around 86% set in Sikkim during the Assembly Elections in 2002.

Results

Results by alliance and party Party Seats contested Seats won No. of votes % of votes % in Seats contested Seats Forfeited 2003 Seats Communist Party of India (Marxist) 56 46 903,009 48.01% 51.21% 0 38 Revolutionary Socialist Party 2 2 31,717 1.69% 52.58% 0 2 Communist Party of India 2 1 27,891 1.48% 48.65% 0 1 Total 60 49 926,617 51.18% 0 41 Indian National Congress 48 10 684,207 36.38% 44.38% 1 13 Indigenous Nationalist Party of Twipra 11 1 116,761 6.21% 38.23% 2 6 Bharatiya Janata Party 49 0 28,102 1.49% 1.79% 49 0 Nationalist Congress Party 5 0 1,882 0.10% 0.92% 5 0 All India Trinamool Congress 22 0 6,620 0.35% 0.92% 22 0 Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation 14 0 5,261 0.28% 1.11% 14 0 All India Forward Bloc 12 0 2,961 0.16% 0.74% 12 0 Janata Dal (United) 2 0 1,081 0.06% 1.74% 2 0 Lok Janshakti Party 8 0 2,738 0.15% 1.07% 8 0 Amra Bangalee 19 0 5,532 0.29% 0.96% 19 0 Party of Democratic Socialism 1 0 2,062 0.11% 6.13% 1 0 Independents 62 0 61,010 3.24% 4.94% 58 0 Total 313 60 1,880,834 193Source: ECI

Results by constituency