Who is Pratima Bhoumik, Modi government minister who could be Tripura's first woman CM?

In the recently concluded Tripura Assembly elections, the ruling BJP again emerged victorious. It bagged 32 of the 60 seats, while its ally PFT, won just one seat. Though BJP had declared its incumbent Chief Minister CM Manik Saha as its CM face, now reports suggest there may be a change in the top post in the northeastern state.

According to reports, BJP is now considering Pratima Bhoumik, who has been elected from the Dhanpur Assembly seat, as its CM in the state. If appointed the CM, she will become the first woman chief minister in the Northeast. But who is Pratima Bhoumik?

Pratima Bhowmik is a minister in the Modi government currently serving as the Minister of State Social Justice and Empowerment. She became the first Tripura resident and the second woman from northeast to be a Union Minister.

And now, she has been elected as a Member of the Tripura Legislative Assembly from Dhanpur Constituency on March 2, 2023. The 53-year-old has been a BJP stalwart in Tripura for decades.

She got elected to the Lok Sabha in 2019 from Tripura West as a BJP member. She is a member of the BJP since 1991.  Bhowmik was made a member of the BJP Tripura State Committee months after joining BJP. In 1992, she was made the head of the Dhanpur Mandal.

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Rising through the ranks, Bhowmik served as the vice president of the Tripura State BJP Mahila Morcha, as well as, the party’s state youth wing. She was also the BJP Pradesh Vice President for two terms. She did her graduation in science from Women College, Agartala, under Tripura University in 1991.