Left Front sweeps Tripura panchayat by-polls

The ruling Left Front in Tripura today swept the by-polls to the three-tier gram panchayat by winning 43 out of total 47 seats in the state, elections for which was held on December 21, officials said.
Secretary of the State Election Commission Prasenjit Bhattacharya said the by-elections were held in 44 Gram Panchayat seats, of which the CPI(M) alone won in 38 seats, CPI in two seats, BJP won in two seats and TMC in two seats.
"Besides gram panchayats, by-elections were also held to two Panchayat Samiti seats at Durga Chowmuhani in Dhalai district and at Gournagar in Unakoti district, where the ruling CPI(M) registered their win. By-poll was also held to one Zilla Parishad seat in Unakoti district, which was also won by the CPI(M)," Bhattacharya told reporters here.

The by-polls were necessitated due to deaths and resignations of the candidates.