2008 Tripura Legislative Assembly election

← 2003 23 Feb 2008 2013 →
60 seats in the Assembly 31 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party   Leader Manik Sarkar Samir Ranjan Barman Party CPI(M) INC Leader's seat Dhanpur Bishalgarh Seats before 38 13 Seats won 46 10 Seat change 8 3 Popular vote 903,009 684,207 Percentage 48.01% 36.38%
Tripura District Map
Chief Minister before election Manik Sarkar CPI(M) Elected Chief Minister Manik Sarkar CPI(M)

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 (ACs) in Tripura, India. Counting of votes occurred on 7 March 2008; with the use of electronic voting machines (EVMs) in this election, 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.^[1] This provided the CPI(M) with a fourth consecutive governing term.^[2]

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 other cabinet Ministers.^[3]

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

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No. of Constituencies

^[4]

Electors

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Performance of Women Candidates

^[4]

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.^[5]

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.^[6]

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.^[7][8]

Results

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Party	Seats Contested	Seats Won	No. of Votes	% of Votes	% in Seats contested	Seats Forfeited	2003 Seats
Bharatiya Janata Party	49	0	28,102	1.49%	1.79%	49	0
Communist Party of India	2	1	27,891	1.48%	48.65%	0	1
Communist Party of India (Marxist)	56	46	903,009	48.01%	51.21%	0	38
Indian National Congress	48	10	684,207	36.38%	44.38%	1	13
Nationalist Congress Party	5	0	1,882	0.10%	0.92%	5	0
All India Forward Bloc	12	0	2,961	0.16%	0.74%	12	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
Indigenous Nationalist Party of Twipra	11	1	116,761	6.21%	38.23%	2	6
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
Revolutionary Socialist Party	2	2	31,717	1.69%	52.58%	0	2
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			193
Source: ECI[5]

Constituency wise winners