78% turnout in Tripura, down 13% from 2013 Assembly polls

As the curtains came down in a tightly-fought elections in Tripura, amidst beefed up security, the voter turnout stood at 78%, which was down by over 13% from the last Assembly elections in 2013.

According to the Election Commission, 12 ballot units had to be replaced owing to technical glitches, while several of the complaints turned out to be false. People were still standing in booths after the deadline, and it is likely that the voting percentage could go up till 85%.

Reports said that over 70-75 Electronic Voting Machines malfunctioned, while the EC said that in several constituencies Voter-Verifiable Paper Audit Trail machines, too, developed technical glitches. This led to delays in these areas in voting. This was also the first time that in the state where web-casting was done.

And, despite reported cases of violence across the state in the days leading up to the elections, the EC said that while the state recorded no incidents of violence during the polls, the police stumbled upon two crude bombs. “The bombs that were recovered were defused quickly,” said the Election Commissioner. He added that over 300 companies of Central Armed Forces and state armed personnel were deployed around the state, while the Border Security Force (BSF) were also keeping a watch along the 856 km long Indo-Bangladesh border in the state.

In all, 292 candidates were in the fray in 59 of the 60 constituent seats, including 23 women. Elections in one seat, in Charilam constituency, had to be postponed after the CPM candidate Ramendra Narayan Debbarma passed away. Polls in the seat will now be held on March 12. The total number of voters were 2,505,997, of which 1,230,628 were women, while there were 11 people under the third gender category. Over 47,803 were first time voters.

The delay in voting could have led to the low voter count in a state where traditionally voters come out to vote in droves, said a voter, some of whom came out to vote at 7am but ended up casting their votes at 10am-11am.

Congress working president Pradyot Debbarman said that if the EC had done its job well, things could have been smoother. "People in high positions should take their job with seriousness. The confidence of the EC has been hurt nationwide, and this does not help when EVM fail," he said.

BJP's Sunil Deodhar said the long queues in poll booths led to the party making requests to the EC to allow people to vote till late. "People will lose patience if they are made to stand in lines for hours. Yet, this will be the first time in decades when elections in Tripura have been peaceful, despite the CPM cadres trying to capture booths in some remote areas," said Deodhar.

Results in the state will be declared on March 3.