The World - News from Feb. 5, 1988

An alliance led by Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s ruling party apparently has ended 10 years of Communist rule in northeastern Tripura state, returns in legislative elections showed. In the state capital of Agartala, 1,000 miles east of New Delhi, election officials said Gandhi’s Congress-I party captured 23 of the 60 Assembly seats in Tuesday’s election, while an allied party took seven, giving the alliance a total of 30 seats. The Left Front coalition led by the Communist Party of India won 28 seats. Observers blamed the Left Front’s poor showing on its failure to crush separatist rebels accused of killing at least 100 people in a bid to disrupt the voting.