Agartala, July 29 (IANS) With one more person succumbing to her injuries, the death toll in the June 28 chariot tragedy in Tripura rose to ten, police said on Saturday.

The victims comprise of four woman children and as many children, they added.

A devotee named Rupa Ghosh(32) died at a Delhi hospital on Friday night after battling for life for 31 days following the tragic incident.

Nine people were electrocuted to death and 30 others were injured on June 28 after a chariot made of iron came in contact with an overhead high-tension wire in the Kumarghat area in northern Tripura.

A police spokesman said that the chariot taken out on the occasion of ‘Ulto Rath’, the return journey of the annual Rath Yatra procession, was carrying the idols of Lord Jagannath, Devi Subhadra and Lord Balabhadra.

Eyewitnesses had said that hundreds of devotees were pulling the rope of the chariot taken out by the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), which came in contact with the 11,000-volt high-tension wire, as proper precautionary measures were not taken.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had condoled the deaths and announced a compensation of Rs 2 lakh for the families of the deceased.

Tripura government also provided compensations to the families of the deceased and injured people.

A magisterial and a high-level probe have been ordered into the incident.

Agartala, March 8 (IANS) Septuagenarian dental surgeon-turned-politician Manik Saha on Wednesday took oath as the Chief Minister, days after BJP-IPFT alliance retained power in Tripura for the second straight term by winning 32 seats in the 60-member state assembly, for which elections were held on February 16.

Along with the 70-year-old Saha, eight other legislators, including a woman, assumed office as cabinet ministers against the total ministerial strength of 12.

Governor Satyadeo Narain Arya administered the oath and secrecy to the Chief Minister and other ministers - Ratan Lal Nath, Pranajit Singh Roy, Santana Chakma, Sushanta Chowdhury, Tinku Roy, Bikash Debbarma, Sudhangshu Das, Sukla Charan Noatia.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP President J.P. Nadda, Chief Ministers Himanta Biswa Sarma (Assam), N. Biren Singh (Manipur), Pema Khandu (Arunachal Pradesh), Prem Singh Tamang (Sikkim) and a host of dignitaries were in attendance at the swearing-in ceremony held at the Swami Vivekananda Maidan.

Among the ministers, who took oath on Wednesday, four are new faces -- Tinku Roy, Bikash Debbarma, Sudhangshu Das, Sukla Charan Noatia - and Santana Chakma, the only woman minister, who was also the minister in the first BJP government.

Noatia, the lone MLA of the BJP ally Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT), was inducted in the council of ministry.

Three tribal MLAs, including Noatia, were given ministerial berths in the Manik Saha-led cabinet. Three ministerial berths remained vacant as the BJP has been approaching tribal based Tipra Motha Party (TMP) to join the BJP-led government.

Four ministers of the first BJP-led government - Ram Prasad Paul, Bhagaban Das, Manoj Kanti Deb and Rampada Jamatia - did not find place in the second saffron party-led government.

Political observers earlier felt that the Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Pratima Bhowmik, who was elected from the Dhanpur assembly constituency, would find an important place in the Manik Saha-led cabinet, but it was not done yet though three ministerial berths remained vacant.

Opposition Congress and the CPI-M-led Left parties boycotted the swearing-in-ceremony alleging the state wide "unprecedented reign of terror unleashed by the BJP supporters and goons" since the announcements of assembly elections results on March 2.

In the February 16 Assembly polls, the BJP won 32 seats, one more than the magic figure of 31 in the 60-member Assembly, while its ally Indigenous People's Front of Tripura got one.

Saha was re-elected from the Town Bordowali seat for the second time after defeating his nearest Congress opponent Ashish Kumar Saha by a margin of 1,257 votes. Manik Saha was first elected to the state Assembly in the by-poll held in June last year by defeating Ashish Kumar Saha by a margin of 6,104 votes.

Saha, who was also the state unit chief of the BJP and Rajya Sabha member for a brief period, took oath as the chief minister last year on May 15, a day after former chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb resigned from the top post.

The BJP, which first came to power in 2018 assembly polls after thrashing the CPI-M-led Left Front after 25 years (1993-2018), retained power in Tripura for the second straight term in the recent polls.

The tribal-based Tipra Motha Party (TMP), which for the first time contested 42 seats on its own, emerged as the second largest party by securing 13 seats. The CPI-M won 11 seats while the Congress bagged three.

The CPI-M-led Left Front, which contested the elections in a seat-sharing arrangement with the Congress, had fielded 47 candidates while 13 seats were allotted to the Congress.

Agartala/Kohima/Shillong, March 5 (IANS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi would attend the swearing-in-ceremony of new Chief Ministers and their ministers in Meghalaya and Nagaland on Tuesday and that of Tripura on Wednesday.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP President J.P. Nadda and a few Union ministers are likely to attend these events in three state capitals.

Official and BJP sources said that the swearing-in-ceremony of the new Meghalaya Chief Minister and his council of ministers would be held in Shillong at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, while the swearing-in in Nagaland will take place in Kohima at 1.45 p.m.

The new Chief Minister and ministers of Tripura would be administered the oath by the Governor in Agartala on Wednesday.

Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) leader and caretaker Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who is also the convenor of the BJP led North-East Democratic Alliance (NEDA), would meet the Central BJP leaders in New Delhi on Sunday, ahead of the formation of new Nagaland government.

The ruling NDPP (25 seats), along with its ally Bharatiya Janata Party (12 seats) retained power in Nagaland for a second straight term by winning 37 seats together in the 60-member Assembly.

Rio, who on Friday was unanimously elected as the leader of the NDPP legislative party, submitted his resignation letter to Governor La Ganesan on Saturday.

In Meghalaya, National People's Party (NPP) Chief Conrad K Sangma has reiterated that he has letters of support from 32 MLAs and claimed to have received an invitation from the Governor to form the next government. Sangma said that he has support of 32 MLAs, which is one more than the required number to form the government.

The NPP in the February 27 assembly polls secured 26 seats while the BJP, which got two seats, extended its support to the NPP led government. Sangma, Chief Minister since 2018, submitted to the Governor a letter of support with signatures of 32 MLAs -- 26 NPP, two BJP, two legislators from Hill State People's Democratic Party and two independents.

In Tripura, sources said that outgoing Chief Minister Manik Saha would hold the Chief Minister's post once again.

A meeting of newly elected MLAs and leaders was held in Agartala on Sunday. BJP's northeast in-charge Sambit Patra, Manik Saha, BJP President Rajib Bhattacharjee, and Union Minister Pratima Bhowmik among others were present in the meeting.

In the February 16 Assembly polls, the BJP won 32 seats, one more than the magic figure of 31 in the 60-member Assembly while its ally Indigenous People's Front of Tripura got one.

The tribal-based Tipra Motha Party, which contested 42 seats on its debut, emerged as the second-largest party securing 13 seats. The CPI-M won 11 seats while the Congress bagged three.

In the 2018 polls, the BJP had won 36 seats, and ally IPFT eight seats while the CPI-M had secured 16.