By TC News Desk
Agartala, 9th April 2025: The Congress and CPI(M) parties, typically at odds in state politics joined forces to capture the Ichhabpur Gram Panchayat in Kailashahar subdivision. The 2024 panchayat elections in Ichhabpur, which consisted of eleven seats resulted in no single party achieving a majority. The BJP secured five seats, CPI(M) also won five and Congress claimed one.
Following the elections, Congress and CPI(M) formed a coalition panchayat. CPI(M) member Manoj Pal was appointed as the president, while Congress member Abdul Kalam took the vice-president role. Initially, the panchayat functioned smoothly, but tensions arose when six members, including representatives from BJP and CPI(M), filed a no-confidence motion against both the president and vice-president.
After a prolonged absence of leadership, Unakoti district panchayat officer David Halam announced a vote of confidence scheduled for April 9. The voting took place at noon in the Ichhabpur Panchayat office overseen by voting officer Dipankar Chakraborty.
During the vote, CPI(M) members supported Abdul Kalam, who secured six votes to retain his position as vice-president. Meanwhile, CPI(M) nominated Sandhya Rani Dev as the candidate for president, replacing Manoj Pal. BJP members boycotted the vote, leaving six members from CPI(M) and Congress to elect Sandhya Rani Deb as the new president.
BJP member Abdul Mutalib expressed dissatisfaction, alleging corruption under the previous leadership of CPI(M)’s Manoj Pal. He accused Congress and CPI(M) of exploiting the gram panchayat and criticized Soma Begum, a CPI(M) member, for voting against BJP’s stance during the confidence vote.
