Agartala, Feb. 7: Political configurations in Tripura are changing fast in the run-up to the elections to the Autonomous District Council, slated for March 5.

The process of filing nominations by candidates began today. Already the Left Front has stolen a march over its rivals, announcing its list of candidates and finalising a seat-sharing deal with the fragmented Nationalist Socialist Party of Tripura (NSPT).

The Left Front has also projected veteran party central committee member and former tribal welfare minister Aghore Debbarma as the next chief executive member of the ADC. However, sharp differences within the front over seat-sharing arrangements came to the fore when front convener and veteran CPM secretary Baidyanath Mazu-mder told a news conference that the CPI was unwilling to accept the formula.

The party?s quota has been reduced from two in the last election to just one this time.

CPM spokesman Gautam Das claimed that the pre-poll situation was heavily in favour of the Left Front and the Indigenous Nationalist Party of Tripura (INPT) would not be able to rig the polls with the help of the National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT), as it had allegedly done in 2000. In a separate development, Ratimohan Jamatya, five-time MLA and member of the INPT?s advisory committee, joined the Congress last night with another central committee member of the party, Bichitramohan Jamatya. They accepted primary membership of Congress from AICC secretary V. Hanumantha Rao last night at Congress Bhawan.

Thirty senior Nationalist Socialist Party of Tripura (NSPT) leaders, headed by party president and former deputy Speaker Gaurishankar Reang, also joined the Congress today. Another faction, led by Budhu Debbarma, Rabijay Jamatya and Hirendra Kumar Tripura, has thrown in its lot with the CPM, under the banner of the NSPT.