Tripura Assembly Elections: State witnesses 78% turnout

The voter turnout in Tripura Assembly election by 9 p.m. on Sunday was 78.56 percent, Tripura Election Commissioner G. Kameswara Rao said.

‘The voter turnout till now is 78.56 %. Voting is still underway at few polling stations,’ the official said.

The state Election Commissioner also said voting slips were distributed till 4 p.m. and to those voters who were at the booths.

Voting for the 60 seat Tripura Assembly election began at 8 a.m.

The Left front Communist Party of India (Marxist) is trying to win a sixth term against the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress Party.

Chief Minister Manik Sarkar, under whose leadership the CPM won 50 of the 60 seats in the last assembly polls, had led the Left's poll campaign.

The BJP is contesting in alliance with the Indigenous People's Front of Tripura.

Meghalaya and Mizoram undergo polling on February 27, and results for the three northeastern states will be declared on March 3.

A piece of unprecedented gathering at Tripura to watch and listen PM Shri @narendramodi Ji on 15-02-2018 pic.twitter.com/AoN1TUUvM9

— BJP Tripura (@BJP4Tripura) February 17, 2018

Polling could not be held in the Charilam constituency due to the death of CPI(M) candidate Ramendra Narayan Deb Barma last week. The constituency will go to polls on March 12.

The Election Commission said in New Delhi the updated polling percentage was complied from 41 of the 59 constituencies.

At its briefing earlier, the poll watchdog had put the figures at 74 %.

Two of CM Manik Sarkar's strongest rivals in his constituency -- BJP's Pratima Bhowmik and Congress's Lakshmi Nag. Yet crime against women in Tripura is a serious concern.

As Tripura goes to the polls today, here's a story on the women in the state. https://t.co/XQQoo2mfOd

— amrita madhukalya (@visually_kei) February 18, 2018

Sabha polls, it was 84.32 %, Deputy Election Commissioner Sudip Jain told reporters in the national capital.

He said two crude bombs were detected and disposed of by security personnel.

The voter turnout is likely to rise as long queues were seen at polling stations even after 4 pm, the time for the voting to conclude. Under the electoral laws, voters standing in queue at the scheduled time for voting to conclude are allowed to exercise their franchise.

Wishing all candidates of @INCTripura the very best of luck#Have enjoyed and loved every bit of my time as an Observer there#Future of Tripura lies with the young leaders of Congress Party#May you all be successful.@OfficeOfRG @drcpjoshi @BhupenKBorah @PradyotManikya @vidyarthee

— Rajkumar Imo Singh (@imosingh) February 18, 2018

Additional CEO Tapas Roy said in Agartala initially there were problems with several EVM machines which were fixed.

Earlier in the day, Chief Electoral Officer Sriram Taranikanti had said voting was delayed in some polling booths of West Tripura, Khowai and Unakoti districts as officials could not properly connect the EVMs. Technicians were rushed in to these placed and EVMs set right.

The BJP, hitherto an "also ran" in the border state, has emerged as the key challenger to the CPI(M)-led Left Front, which has remained unvanquished in the last five Assembly elections. Manik Sarkar, one of the most enduring icons of the CPI(M), has helmed the state for the last four terms.

In Tripura, political parties are reaching out to the indigenous tribal population with promises to revive the Kokborok language & to teach it in schools in the Roman script, and not the Bengali one. First dispatch from #Tripurahttps://t.co/IyvZtj0UxJ

— amrita madhukalya (@visually_kei) February 16, 2018

The Congress, which has been marginalised in Tripura, was last in power between February 1988 and March 1993. It is contesting 59 seats and had not fielded candidate for Kakrabon constituency.

The BJP, which has been rapidly expanding its footprint in the northeast, with the party already in power in Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh, has forged an alliance with Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT), an anti-Left party. The BJP has fielded candidates in 51 places, while its ally is contesting the remaining nine seats.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah spearheaded the BJP-IPFT challenge in one of the last bastions of the Left. Sarkar, known for leading a frugal life and the considered the "poorest" of chief ministers in the country, almost single-handedly tried to defend his 'Red fort' against the saffron challenge.

Inspector General of Police (Law and Order) K V Srijesh said the voting was "incident free" and no violence was reported from anywhere.

Few special moments with @OfficeOfRG today in Tripura 2/2 pic.twitter.com/9fiRmigyZj

— Bhupen kumar Borah (@BhupenKBorah) February 16, 2018

While 300 companies of central armed forces were deployed, besides the state police, the BSF kept heightened vigil along the 856-km-long India-Bangladesh border in Tripura.

Director General of Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) R K Pachnanda was appointed special observer to coordinate with all security forces deployed for the election.

Manik Sarkar cast his vote in Ramnagar constituency here, while Biplab Deb, the state BJP chief, pressed the EVM button in R K Pur seat in Gomati district. Tripura Congress president Birajit Sinha cast his vote at Kailashahar in Unakoti district.