With 43.59% of the vote, the BJP secured a majority of seats (36) and subsequently formed the government with Biplab Kumar Deb as Chief Minister.

[4] Having governed Tripura since the 1998 election, the ruling Left Front alliance, under Chief Minister Manik Sarkar, sought re-election.

Meanwhile, the region in general had been under the political control of the CPI(M) for 25 years prior to the election, leading to the region being dubbed a "red holdout"[5] even when the 34-year uninterrupted rule of a CPI(M)-led alliance of Communist parties in West Bengal, the world's longest democratically elected Communist-led government, came to an end in 2011.

[8] Once considered a political pariah in Northeast India due to its significant Christian tribal population & the party's association with the Sangh Parivar (which aimed to achieve Hindu unity by achieving a Hindi belt centric cultural homogenisation), the BJP following its victory in the 2014 general elections had swiflty formed a coalition of Northeast-centric smaller parties within its larger national coalition to challenge the Congress hold over the region.

The Bengali Hindu majority of Tripura, whose forefathers had migrated to the state during Partition of Bengal to escape persecution by Bengali Muslims in East Bengal & had been constantly bickering with the Kokborok-speaking native Tripuri population which had led to incidents of bloodshed like the Mandai massacre deeply resonated with BJP's campaign against illegal infiltration of Bangladeshi Muslims.

BJP built up its organisation in the state by engineering defections from the Left Front & Trinamool Congress (which in turn was engineering defections from the Congress based on dissatisfaction of local cadre with the party's decision to ally with CPI(M) in 2016 West Bengal legislative assembly election, a notable defector being Sudip Ray Barman).

He further called for restraint in post-electoral violence: "We do not believe in the politics of vengeance and hatred, so we appeal to the people to maintain peace and calm."

"[24] Former Chief Minister of Kerala and senior CPI(M) leader V. S. Achuthanandan called for the party's leadership to ally with "secular forces" to defeat the Sangh Parivar: "The country is facing serious challenges.

He supported party General Secretary Sitaram Yechury's call for an "understanding" with the INC as "a tactical move with secular forces was necessary.

"[25] The party's provincial minister claimed that the BJP had "misused" money and power at the central government in winning the election and that the "challenge to the democracy and the national integrity."

On 5th March 2018, 2 days after declaration of the polling results, a colossal statue of Vladimir Lenin installed by the Communist government in 2013 at Belonia was razed to the ground using a bulldozer by a mob of jubilant BJP supporters.

[31] Polling for the seat of Charilam was postponed to 12 March 2018 after the death of Communist Party of India (Marxist) incumbent candidate Ramendra Narayan Debbarma.