Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha on Thursday exuded confidence that the BJP will secure absolute majority in the Assembly elections, which got underway at 7 am.

The saffron party will perform better than what it did in the previous election, Saha, who is contesting the polls from Town Bardowali Assembly constituency, claimed.

"I am hundred per cent confident that the BJP will secure absolute majority in the elections. The party may get more seats than it did the last time," he told reporters on his way to a polling booth at Maharani Tulsibati Girls' School here.

The BJP government in Tripura had been striving for development in the state, and would continue to do so in the years to come, he asserted.

On being asked who will be the next chief minister, the doctor-turned-politician replied, "In our party, things are not decided that way. As of now, I am the chief minister." In the by-elections held last year, Saha had defeated Congress nominee Ashish Kumar Saha by more than 6,000 votes in Town Bardowali.

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