BJP won 329 out of 334 seats in urban local bodies polls in Tripura which was termed as 'murder of democracy' by both Trinamool Congress and CPM. Mamata Banerjee's TMC, which got just one seat in Ambassa Municipality, said it had petitioned the Supreme Court with "evidence" of how the November 25 elections were rigged. CPM got three seats while the fledgling Tipraha Indigenous Progressive Regional Alliance (Tipra) snatched a rare victory from BJP in Ambassa. While BJP grabbed the lion's share of votes overall with 59%, TMC emerged as the strongest opposition party with 24% votes despite having fewer seats than CPM.
Soon after the results were declared, suspected BJP supporters attacked the houses of two TMC candidates and a counting agent at Teliamura in Khowai district and a CPM functionary in Sabroom. Section 144 was clamped in Teliamura after 12 people, including three cops, were injured in an attack on a bus carrying Trinamool supporters, according to a report that quoted Khowai SP Kiran Kumar.
CM Biplab Kumar Deb, without naming TMC, told the media that voters had given "a befitting reply to slander by a party that does not even have a base" in Tripura. TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, who led his party's Tripura campaign, said there was much to look forward to based on its performance on debut. He alleged that TMC was not allowed to file nominations in 90% of the civic bodies at the behest of BJP. TMC convener Subal Bhowmik said the party fielded candidates in all 51 seats of the Agartala Municipal Corporation and a few others, but could not campaign properly.
