Over 51% turnout till 1 pm in Tripura Assembly polls: Election officials

More than 51.42 per cent voters cast their votes till 1 p.m. on Thursday in the Tripura Assembly polls which is in progress in all the 60 constituencies amid heavy security, election officials said.

Several incidents of violence, attacks and counter attacks were reported in the poll-bound bordering northeastern state.

At least 60 opposition party workers were injured when the ruling party workers attacked them in south, Gomati, Sepahijala and West Tripura districts.

Tripura Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Gitte Kirankumar Dinkarrao said that wherever the authority got any information of any trouble, the security forces immediately rushed to the areas and resolved the problems.

A senior police official said that a police constable was suspended in Gomati district for his alleged role in urging people to cast votes in favour of the ruling BJP.

Opposition political parties, including CPI(M) and Congress, complained that in several places, including Dhanpur and Kakraban, the ruling party workers obstructed the voters belonging to the opposition parties.

Men, women and first-time voters in large numbers queued up in front of the polling stations well before the voting started at 7 a.m. in eight districts."EVMs (Electronic Voting Machines), which were not functioning properly, were replaced expeditiously by the engineers," an election official said.

Voting will continue till 4 p.m. without any break.

The CEO said that a total of 259 candidates, including 31 women, are testing their electoral fortunes in the elections.

He said that of the 259 candidates, the highest number of 55 candidates have been put up by the ruling BJP, followed by CPI(M) (43), Tipra Motha Party (42), Trinamool Congress (28), and Congress (13).

A total of 58 Independent candidates and 14 nominees from various smaller parties are also contesting the elections.

Around 31,000 personnel are stationed in 3,327 polling stations to conduct the voting.

In all, 28.14 lakh voters, including 13.99 lakh women electorate are eligible to cast their votes in Thursday's balloting.

A senior police officer said the Union Ministry of Home Affairs has provided 400 companies (30,000 security personnel) of Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) comprising various para-military forces while around 9,000 Tripura State Rifles jawans and over 6,000 Tripura Police personnel have also been deployed to hold a fair and violence free elections.

--IANS

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