Manik Sarkar to form govt on 6 March

The Left Front government headed by chief minister Manik Sarkar is set to assume office in Tripura for its fifth consecutive term on 6 March, officials said Friday.

The Left Front is led by the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M).

‘The Left Front leaders Friday at a meeting decided that the swearing-in ceremony of the seventh Left Front government led by Sarkar would be held on 6 March at Raj Bhavan here,’ CPI-M spokesman Gautam Das said.

Sarkar has been heading the government in the northeastern state since 1998.

‘Governor D Y Patil would administer the oath of office and secrecy to Sarkar and his council of ministers at a function at Raj Bhavan,’ an official at the governor's office said.

Das said that a rally will be held here on 7 March to celebrate the electoral victory of the Left parties in the 14 February polls to the 60-member house.

India’s second longest running Left government – after West Bengal – was returned to power for a fifth consecutive term and the seventh since 1978 in Tripura on Thursday, when the votes cast were counted.

The Left Front increased the number of seats and its vote share over 2008, winning 50 seats (one more than in 2008) and routing the main opposition Congress, which secured only 10 seats.

However, the CPI-M was the main gainer, as the Revolutionary Socialist Party and Forward Bloc lost respectively the two and one seat they contested.