Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha has exuded confidence that he will win the June 23 by-election garnering 95 per cent of the votes to be cast, surpassing his Uttarakhand counterpart and BJP colleague Pushkar Singh Dhami who emerged victorious in a by-poll securing 93 per cent of the votes recently.
Saha, a Rajya Sabha member who replaced Biplab Kumar Deb as the chief minister in May ahead of next year's Assembly elections, is contesting from the Town Bardowali constituency.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Puskar Singh Dhami has secured 93 per cent of the votes polled in the by-election. The feedback I am getting from the electors during my door to door campaign, I will bag 95 per cent votes, Saha said during the campaign on Tuesday night.
The chief minister also explained why he expects to secure 95 per cent of the vote share.
The BJP has been working for the people around the year. Why should not they vote for us? he said.
Besides, he said, this is for the first time in Tripura that people will vote for the chief minister in a by-poll and "it is an advantage for me".
Saha also claimed that he is the representative of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president JP Nadda.
In another election meeting on Sunday, Saha had mentioned the victory margin of the Uttarakhand chief minister and said he has to reach "somewhere near that magic figure", without elaborating.
Dhami won the by-poll to the Champawat assembly seat defeating the Congress' Nirmala Gahtori by a record margin of over 55,000 votes to retain his office.
Saha needs to win the bypoll to become a member of the Assembly, a constitutional requirement he needs to fulfil to remain the chief minister.
He is the BJP's candidate for the Town Bordowali assembly seat, while the Congress fielded its heavy-weight leader Asish Kumar Saha in the constituency and the Left Front nominee there is Raghunath Sarkar of the All India Forward Bloc. There are other candidates too.
Along with Town Bardowali, by-polls will be held in three more seats on June 23. The votes will be counted on June 26.
During the campaigning, the chief minister slammed the Trinamool Congress for allegedly turning West Bengal into a "scam ground".
The ruling party of West Bengal, which aims at spreading its footprint in the northeastern state, has fielded its candidates in the four constituencies.
In its bid to become a national party, the TMC is contesting polls in Tripura and is using the money it allegedly got through scams, Saha alleged.
