AGARTALA: The arithmetic of Dharmanagar has rarely been straightforward, but it may never have favoured the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) quite as much as it does today, and entirely by accident. In 2023, Indian National Congress (INC) and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M))-led Left Front fought together, nearly defeating Biswa Bandhu Sen with a combined opposition push that left him just 1,098 votes ahead.
Now, for the April 9, 2026 by-poll in North Tripura district, that alliance has fractured. The Left Front is fielding veteran Amitabha Datta, while Congress has separately entered Chayan Bhattacharjee, the same candidate who polled 17,586 votes two years ago.
With Amra Bangali Party’s Bibash Ranjan Das also in the race, the anti-BJP vote faces a three-way split, a development that could prove decisive for the ruling party’s nominee Jahar Chakraborty, even without the personal popularity of the late Biswa Bandhu Sen behind him.
The by-poll was necessitated by the death of sitting MLA and Assembly Speaker Biswa Bandhu Sen, who passed away in Bengaluru on December 26, 2025. Sen had represented the constituency for four consecutive terms, first under Congress in 2008 and 2013, and then under the BJP in 2018 and 2023, making him one of the most durable legislators in Tripura’s recent political history.
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His 2018 victory had been emphatic, a margin of 7,287 votes with 57.21 per cent of votes polled. However, his 2023 margin of just 1,098 votes on 49.35 per cent had already signalled a shift on the ground. Votes are to be counted on May 4.
The BJP’s candidate Jahar Chakraborty (59), is the party’s North Tripura district Vice President and is making his second attempt from this seat. His first, in 2013, returned only 692 votes and 1.96 per cent of the vote share.
However, Chakraborty’s family connection to Dharmanagar’s political landscape runs deeper than that solitary contest. He is the son-in-law of the late Rasik Ranjan Goswami, a veteran BJP leader who contested this very seat three consecutive times, in 1993, 1998 and 2003, and is the husband of Barnali Goswami, former chairperson of the Tripura Commission for Women.
That lineage carries a certain resonance in a constituency where the Goswami name appeared on the BJP ballot for over a decade. His candidature was cleared at a BJP Central Election Committee meeting in New Delhi, attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, reflecting the national importance the party has attached to retaining this seat.
On the opposition side, Amitabha Datta of the CPI(M)-led Left Front brings decades of electoral experience in this very constituency. He won Dharmanagar three consecutive times between 1993 and 2003 before Sen ended his run in 2008. His last direct contest here, in 2013, saw him poll 16,147 votes at 45.77 per cent, finishing second to Sen.
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Meanwhile, Congress has chosen not to field a new candidate, instead re-entering Bhattacharjee, whose 46.45 per cent vote share in 2023 remains the strongest opposition performance in recent memory. The presence of both Datta and Bhattacharjee in the same race is widely seen as the defining variable of this contest, given that their combined 2023 tally would have comfortably defeated Sen.
However, Bibash Ranjan Das, who had contested the 2023 election as an independent and polled 203 votes, returns this time under the Amra Bangali Party flag. While his numbers are unlikely to decisively alter the outcome, political observers note that in a tight contest, even marginal vote-pullers matter.
The constituency, Tripura’s second-largest commercial centre, now has 46,143 registered voters, including 23,763 women, a significant rise from the 44,745 registered in 2023. Turnout in 2023 stood at 85.75 per cent, with 37,861 votes polled.
According to historical data, the seat has changed hands twice since 1993: from CPI(M) to Congress in 2008, and from Congress to BJP in 2018. Whether it changes hands again, or whether a divided opposition gifts it back to the ruling party, will be answered on May 4.