Putting up a remarkable show, the BJP and its alliance partner, Indigenous People's Front of Tripura, surged ahead of the ruling CPI-M-led Left Front in the counting of votes for the 59 assembly constituencies in Tripura on Saturday.

Polling has been countermanded in one constituency of the 60-strong assembly following the death of a CPI(M) candidate a week before the February 18 polls.

The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) spearheaded LF, which has been ruling Tripura uninterruptedly for the past 25 years, is leading in 16 of the 40 seats for which trends are available at the time of writing.

The Bharatiya Janata Party candidates are leading in 19 seats, while nominees of the tribal-based party (IPFT) are occupying poll position in five constituencies after the first round of counting of votes.

It’s a remarkable performance by the BJP, which had got only around 1.5% votes in the assembly election five years back.