Surname dispute haunts East Tripura BJP candidate

Agartala: Amid controversy over surnames, the candidate for ruling BJP-Tipra Motha combine in East Tripura Lok Sabha constituency — Kriti Singh Debbarma — filed her nomination on Thursday in a colourful rally led by chief minister Dr Manik Saha at Ambassa in Dhalai district.
While announcing the nomination of Tipra Motha founder Pradyot Kishore Manikya Debbarma’s elder sister as a saffron candidate, BJP identified her as Kriti Singh Debbarma who was born and brought up in Shillong, educated till Class X, and married to Yogeshwar Raj Singh of Rajkot royal family of Chhattisgarh.

However, as per the record of the Election Commission of India, she was identified as Kriti Devi Singh who fought the 2018 Chhattisgarh assembly election from Kawardha constituency as an Independent candidate. But the BJP identified her as Kriti Singh Debbarma without assigning any reason for her selection as a candidate here who is well-settled in another state.
Her nomination here triggered reactions in both BJP as well as in Tipra Motha workers because she did not have much link with Tripura and except for her family and relatives, she was unknown to the people here until she became a BJP candidate. Moreover, she doesn’t know the local tribal language Kokborok, for which her party (Motha) has been fighting for recognition under 8th Schedule of the Constitution.
When her ST status was questioned, Tipra Motha leaders clarified that Kriti Singh had an ST certificate at her father’s home address in the royal palace of Tripura, by which she became a candidate for the reserved seat.
After moving to Chhattisgarh, her Aadhaar card and voter card were produced in the name with “Singh” surname. She filed her nomination for East Tripura Lok Sabha polls in Agartala address with Debbarma as her surname. She also altered her profile on Facebook as Kriti Singh Debbarma.
Adding fuel to the controversy, Tipra Motha on Wednesday released a poster inviting people to join the procession of nomination filing where she has been introduced as Kriti Devi Debbarman — joint candidate of Tipra Motha Party and BJP for East Tripura (ST reserved) Lok Sabha seat.
Despite repeated attempts, Kriti could not be contacted for comments.