Agartala, Jan 29: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) announced the candidate list for 55 out of 60 seats for the ensuing Assembly elections scheduled on February 16 next.
 
BJP national spokesman Sambit Patra announced the candidate list in a press conference in Delhi.
 
BJP state general secretary Papia Dutta has been declared as BJP candidate in 6- Agartala seat on Sunday.
 
As decided by the BJP central election committee, seven sitting MLAs- Mimi Majumder (Badharghat), Birendra Kishore Debbarma (Golaghati), Subhash Chandra Das (Nalchar), Atul Debbarma (Krishnapur), Biplab Kumar Ghosh (Matabari), Arun Chandra Bhowmik (Belonia) and Parimal Debbarma (Ambassa) have been dropped this time.

Surprisingly, the BJP fielded Union Minister of State Pratima Bhowmik from Dhanpur constituency where she had faced defeat to former Chief Minister Manik Sarkar in 2018 elections.
 
Chief Minister Dr. Manik Saha will fight from 8-Town Bordowali while BJP state president Rajib Bhattacharjee will contest the elections from Banamalipur constituency, where Biplab Kumar Deb fought the polls in 2018 and became the first BJP Chief Minister of Tripura.
 
On the other hand, Minister Ram Prasad Paul’s name was not declared in the first list.
 
The BJP fielded the candidates after calculating various aspects and with a priority on women representation-- 11 women out of 54 candidates have been given tickets.
 
The candidate list has been finalized in the party's central election committee meeting held in New Delhi on Friday in presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP national president J.P. Nadda.

Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha and top leaders of Tripura BJP attended the meeting. They all returned to Agartala in a chartered flight on Friday night.
 
The BJP 54 BJP candidates declared so far are- Dr. Manik Saha (Town Bordowali), Papia Dutta (Agartala), Ratanlal Nath (Mohanpur), Krishnadhan Das (Bamutia), Dr. Dilip Das (Barjala), Ratan Chakraorty (Khayerpur), Surajit Dutta (Ramnagar), Rajiv Bhattacharjee (Banamalipur), Sushanta Chowdhury (Majlishpur), Rebati Mohan Das (Pratapgarh), Minarani Sarkar (Badharghat), Antara Deb Sarkar (Kamalasagar), Sushanta Deb (Bishalgarh), Himani Debbarma (Golaghati), Jishnu Dev Varma (Charilam), Taffajal Hosain (Boxonagar), Kishor Barman (Nalchar), Debabrata Bhattacharjee (Sonamura), Pratima Bhowmik (Dhanpur), Subrata Majumder (Khowai), Pinaki Das Chowdhury (Kalyanpur- Pramodnagar), Kalyani Roy (Teliamura), Rampada Jamatia (Bagma), Pranajit Singha Roy (R.K. Pur), Anhishek Debroy (Matabari), Jitendra Majumder (Kakraban- Salgarah), Swapna Majumder (Rajnagar), Gautam Sarkar (Belonia), Pramod Reang (Shantirbazar), Dipayan Chowdhury (Hrishyamukh), Mailaphru Mog (Manu), Shankar Roy (Sabroom), Patal Kanya Jamatia (Ampinagar), Ranjit Das (Amarpur), Bikas Chakma (Raima Valley), Manoj Kati Deb (Kamalpur), Swapna Das Paul (Surma),Suchitra Debbarma (Ambassa), Shambhulal Chakma (Chawmanu), Bhagaban Chandra Das (Pabiacherra), Sudhangshu Das (Fatikroy), Tinku Roy (Chandipur), Moboshar Ali (Kailashahar), Dilip Tanti (Kadamtala- Kurti), Bagbassa (Jadavlal Nath), Biswabandhu Sen (Dharmanagar), Malina Debnath (Jubarajnagar), Binay Bhusan Das (Panisagar), Ssantana Chakma (Pencharthal), Binod Debbarma (Simna), Tarit Debbarma (Mandaibazar), Ramprasad Paul (Suryamanigar), Bikas Debbarma (Krishnapur), Ashim Tripura (Karbook) and Brajalal Tripura (Karamcherra).

Meanwhile, in a major political development ahead of Tripura assembly polls, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has announced that the alliance with IPFT will continue.

As decided in a joint meeting of BJP and IPFT leaders, IPFT will fight in five seats Takarjala, Ramchandraghat, Asharambari, Kanchanpur and Jolaibari.

While announcing the decision in a press conference on Saturday, Chief Minister Dr. Manik Saha said BJP and IPFT will continue to work together for the development of the state.

BJP state president Rajib Bhattacharjee, former Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb, MP Rebati Tripura and two IPFT leaders- Bidhan Debbarma and Sukla Charan Noatia were present in the press conference.

Later in the evening, the IPFT declared the five candidates- Bidhan Debbarma (Takarjala), Prashanta Debbarma (Ramchandraghat), Sukla Charan Noatia (Jolaibari), Prem Kumar Reang (Kanchanpur) and Jayanti Debbarma (Asharambari). She is the daughter of former minister late Narendra Chandra Debbarma.

Monday is the last day for filing nominations. The ruling party will hold a massive rally before filing nominations.