THE Left Front in Tripura has registered a magnificent victory in the just concluded three tier panchayat elections. It has swept the eight zilla parishads. Of the total 116 ZP seats, the CPI(M) won 115 conceding just one seat to the Indian National Congress. In the panchayat samitis also, the opposition was decimated. The Left Front secured a majority in all the 35 samitis. Of the 418 panchayat samiti seats for which results were declared (out of the total 419 seats), the Left Front won 409 and the Congress 9. The Left Front also registered victory in almost all the gram panchayats. Of the 591 gram panchayats, the LF secured majority in 563, with the Congress getting 18, the BJP 5, TMC 3, others 2 (where TMC and INC can form a board if they get together). In 22 blocks, no opposition party could get majority even in a single gram panchayat. In the 2009 elections, Congress had won in 83 gram panchayats, this time however their tally got reduced to 18 with the LF gaining 65 gram panchayats from them. Manik Sarkar, Chief Minister of Tripura, in a statement issued on July 19 from New Delhi has thanked the people of Tripura for delivering a landslide victory by giving more than 95 per cent of the seats to the Left Front in the just concluded elections to the three-tier panchayats in the state. He has also thanked the different categories of officers and employees who discharged responsibilities on behalf of the State Election Commission and also conveyed thanks to the security forces and police who had helped the state Election Commission in the smooth and peaceful conduct of the polls. Manik Sarkar said, “Through this verdict the people of Tripura have demonstrated and reiterated their faith and confidence in the Left Front government. However, there is no room for complacency and self-boasting for this spectacular victory. This has only further heightened the responsibility of the Left Front and obviously the Left Front government. “Keeping all these in mind, we shall have to prepare ourselves to discharge our responsibilities and tasks in a befitting manner with due guidance and cooperation of the people of Tripura at large.” CPI(M) state secretary Bijan Dhar and secretariat member Gautam Das at a press conference in Agartala on July 19 also thanked the people of Tripura for reposing their faith once again in the Left Front by delivering a huge and unprecedented mandate in its favour. They said, “With this victory, people have given the Party a far greater responsibility, which it shall try its best to discharge by actively involving the masses and continuing to engage the opposition politically and ideologically by mobilising more people.”