IN keeping with the expectations, the Left Front recorded a resounding victory in the 7th general elections of the Tripura Tribal Area Autonomous District Council. In the results declared on May 6, Left Front candidates emerged victorious in all the 28 seats reaffirming its continuation in office for the third consecutive term. Left Front secured a decisive 54.29 per cent of the total votes polled leaving behind all the other opposition parties. Out of the 28 seats, CPI(M) won in 25 seats while CPI, AIFB and RSP won one seat each. The polling for the 28 seats of the TTAADC were held on May 3, the polling was completely peaceful, with 83.61 per cent turn-out. The counting on May 6 started in the morning and from the very beginning the trends made it clear that the people of the ADC area have reposed their faith on the slogan of peace, tranquility, unity of the state and development raised by the Left Front. The first news of victory came from the Birchandranagar-Kalshi seat of South Tripura. Here the LF supported CPI candidate Dhirendra Reang won by a handsome margin of 8,422 votes against his nearest IPFT rival. The CPI(M) candidate from Kathalia-Mirza-Rajapur Parikshit, Murrasingh retained his seat by a huge margin of 13,667 votes. Here CPI(M) got 63.21 per cent of the total cast and valid votes. As the news of victory of the Left Front candidates spread, spontaneous but disciplined victory celebrations started all over the state. The winner with second highest margin was Santanu Jamatia from the Natunbaazar-Malbasa seat where the LF’s CPI(M) candidate won by a handsome margin of 12,622 votes. The existing CEM of ADC, CPI(M) state committee member Ranjit Debbarma retained his Ramchandraghat seat with a margin of 5,634 votes. CPI(M) state committee member and ADC executive member in charge of education and ICA Radhacharan Debbarma retained his Jirania seat by a margin of 8,901 votes. All the new faces in the Left Front candidate list (all from CPI(M)) won comfortably. In a nut shell, CPI(M) and the Left as a whole got more than 50 per cent votes in 23 of the 28 seats. It got less than 50 per cent vote in five seats, these are Machhmara, Manu Chailengta, Demchhara-Kachuchara, Simna-Tamakari and Bodhjungnagar-Wakinagar. IPFT secured second position in 16 seats getting a vote share of 18.09 per cent, INPT came second in seven seats and BJP secured second spot in five seats. The results for the Congress party were pathetic, to say the least. It could not secure even the second position in any of the seats getting merely 5.50 per cent of the votes and losing deposits in 18 seats. INPT got 10.62 per cent of the votes while the BJP made a dent by securing 7.89 per cent votes. The TMC got a mere 1.03 per cent vote. In the press conference convened by the Tripura Left Front Committee, CPI(M) Tripura state secretary congratulated the entire machinery of the state election commission and the security forces for the peaceful conduct of polling and counting and expressed gratitude to the electorates for their judicious mandate in favour of the LF against all the conspiracies. Maintaining that the vote share of the LF has come down by almost 9 per cent compared to the last ADC election, he said the vote share in the ADC area has however increased slightly compared to the last Assembly election. He said the results must be seen in the perspective of the continuous campaign of falsehood by the Congress party against the chief minister, the Left Front government and the Left Front, the communal propaganda of the BJP and the emotional but vicious, divisive slogan of a separate state by the IPFT and the continuous efforts to create a law and order problem by capitalising on the nonpayment of the MGNREGA wages primarily caused by the changes of procedure by the central government. He said the mandate is a reflection of the people’s faith in the Left Front’s slogan of peace, unity, tranquility and development. Bijan Dhar said, the increase in the vote share of the BJP and the IPFT is a matter of worry not only for we the Left, but for the state and country as a whole. We shall have to fight these dangers in a unified manner. Bijan Dhar said, we believe this victory of the Left Front in the ADC elections will enthuse the entire left and democratic movement for a pro-people alternative in the country. He was flanked by CPI(M) state committee member Gautam Das, CPI state secretary Ranjit Majumdar, RSP state secretary Sudarshan Bhattacharya and AIFB state secretary Shyamal Roy. In a separate message, chief minister and CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Manik Sarkar expressed hearty congratulations and gratitude to the electorates and thanked all the leaders, cadres, workers and sympathisers of the Left Front. He thanked the entire machinery of the state election commission and the security forces for their excellent discharge of election related responsibilities. Manik Sarkar said, through this verdict the majority of the people have expressed their judicious and firm support in favour of peace, harmony, stability, unity ,integrity of the state and the ongoing development process, reposing their deep faith in favour of the Left Front government and the ADC administration run by the Left Front. The victorious candidates and the Left Front must show due respect to this significant and positive mandate and discharge their enhanced responsibility for peace, harmony, stability, unity, integrity and massive development of the entire state including the TTAADC area. A watchful and vigilant eye must be kept so that this huge victory doesn't in any way pave way for boastful and complacent attitude, he said.