In the contest of the two Rajendra Reangs in North Tripura's Kanchanpur (ST) constituency, the CPI-M candidate sneaked through with a solitary vote.
The CPI-M candidate secured 9,700 votes while that of the INPT got 9699.
But Reang's good fortune was marred by the loss of his elder brother on the eve of the poll.
On February 25, suspected National Liberation Front of Tripura militants abducted and shot Kishore Reang dead near Kanchanpur town.
Incidentally, NLFT militants had last year killed their father, also a CPI-M worker.