AGARTALA, Sep 7 (TIWN): An oath taking ceremony held in Simna-Tamakri ADC following the recent bi-poll, which was owned by CPI-M.

The recently held ADC bi-poll election results shows that lack of strong opposition in Tripura has made the way for CPI-M to make a clean sweep in the tribal belts.

According to the source, in first round of counting CPI-M candidate Kumud Debbarma was ahead in first round of vote counting with 6652 votes.

However, leaving stones unturned IPFT candidate Mangal  Debbarma was also running in the race with 5212 votes in the Simna-Tamakari ADC election.

The by-poll to a seat under Tripura's lone tribal autonomous body was held on Tuesday with the ruling CPI-M making all efforts to take on a tribal party backed by the BJP and Trinamool Congress. In all, 22,481 voters -- over 90 per cent of them tribals – have cast their votes to elect their representative in western Tripura's Simna-Tamakari constituency under the Tripura Tribal Areas Autononmous District Council (TTAADC).

According to an official of the state election commission, women voters at 11,250 outnumbered the men (11,231) in the reserved seat.

Seven candidates have contested the by-election, which was necessitated following the death of Communist Party of India-Marxist member Ranabir Debbarma earlier this year.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Trinamool Congress supported the Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT) candidate Mangal Debbarma though the BJP had earlier put up candidate for the seat.