"BJP will return to power with more seats": Tripura CM Manik Saha days after polling in northeastern state

Agartala: Exuding confidence that the Bharatiya Janata Party will form the government for a second successive term, Chief Minister Manik Saha on Saturday said the party would secure more seats than it had in the previous elections in 2018.
The remarks came days after polling was held in the border state for electing a new 60-member assembly. The counting of votes will begin on March 2 and results would be declared on the same day. "There is no doubt that BJP will form the govt here once more," Tripura CM Manik Saha told ANI.
CM Saha said in the 2018 election, BJP won 36 seats and our alliance partner Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT) won 8 seats.
"I think this time, we will win more seats than that," Manik Saha said.
The voting for the Tripura Assembly elections was held on Thursday, with the voter turnout recorded at 81.10 per cent, Election Commission informed earlier.

The fate of the 259 candidates has been sealed for 60 Assembly seats.
The polls this year are seeing a triangular contest, with the Congress-CPM fighting in alliance and the Trinamool Congress also fielding candidates in several seats. The Tipra Motha, an alliance of regional outfits, is the dark horse in the ongoing election and could emerge as the kingmaker in the event of a hung Assembly.
The BJP had declared candidates for 55 assembly seats, leaving the remaining five seats for its ally, the Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT).
The Left-Congress alliance declared candidates for all 60 seats.
According to Election Commission, there were over 28.14 lakh registered voters this year of which 14,15,233 are men, 13,99,289 are women and 62 belong to the third gender.
Adequate security arrangements were made for the polls, with 97 all-women police stations. As many as 94,815 voters are in the age group of 18-19 years while 6,21,505 belong in the 22-29 age group. The highest number of voters is in the 40-59 age group, at 9,81,089.
A total of 259 candidates across parties are fray for the ongoing Assembly polls.
Tripura is the first state to go to the polls this year while polling for Nagaland and Meghalaya assemblies will be held on February 27.
Five more states will go to polls this year, ahead of the Lok Sabha elections in 2024. (ANI)