Agartala, Jan 31: Just ahead of the February 16 Tripura Assembly elections, ruling BJP suffered a jolt as one more legislator of the party, Atul Debbarma, resigned from the Tripura Assembly and the saffron party on Monday.

Debbarma, a physician turned politician, however, submitted his nomination papers on Monday in the Krishnapur assembly constituency in Khowai district as an independent.

Debbarma and six other sitting BJP MLAs were dropped from the list of party nominees for the next month’s assembly polls.

The ruling BJP this time nominated Bikash Debbarma from the Krishnapur assembly seat.

Out of the total 60 assembly constituencies, BJP has fielded candidates in 55 seats while its ally Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT) fielded candidates in the remaining five seats.

Debbarma, who is the 6th BJP MLAs and 9th legislator of the BJP-IPFT alliance to quit the assembly and their respective parties since 2021, said that he was dropped from the candidates’ list and none informed him yet.

“In 2018, I resigned from the Delhi government health services and joined BJP and was elected to the assembly from the Krishnapur assembly constituency. I have tried my best to give services to the people. If I do not quit the government job I can do the job for many more years,” the 59 years old leader said.

He said that due to the tremendous pressure of his supporters and followers he had to quit the BJP and submit his nomination as an independent.

Earlier BJP MLAs Diba Chandra Hrangkhawl, Burba Mohan Tripura, Ashis Das, Sudip Roy Barman and Ashis Kumar Saha and IPFT MLAs — Mevar Kumar Jamatia, Brishaketu Debbarma and Dhananjoy Tripura quit the party and the Assembly after open differences with the ruling parties and the government.