Home voting for veterans, people with disabilities start in West Tripura Parliamentary constituency amidst tight security

The by-election to the Ramnagar Assembly constituency, which fell vacant after the death of sitting MLA Surajit Dutta in December last year, would be held along with the first phase of the Lok Sabha elections.

A team of election officials, including West district magistrate Dr Vishal Kumar, on Wednesday, gathered at the Umakanta Academy ground in the West Tripura district and then visited veteran voters aged 85 years or more at their home along with polling materials. The voting process began at 9 am.

“In West Tripura, the home voting will be held today (Wednesday) and on April 12,” said Kumar during his visit to the residence of 85-year-old Fulbashi Sarkar at Golchakkar near the Indo-Bangla Integrated Check Post with Akhaura of Bangladesh. The area, which is very close to the international boundary, comes under the Ramnagar assembly constituency area.

As per officials, nearly 5,000 veterans and PwD would cast their votes in West Tripura constituency in these two days.

The initiative was taken to take polling facilities to the doorstep of veteran and PwD voters amidst tight security to ensure a free and fair voting process.

An election official said that the home voting for octogenarians and PwD voters of East Tripura constituency would be held on April 17 and 18.

When asked, the official said that there are a total of 4,581 home voters in West Tripura seat while there are nearly 4,720 in East Tripura Parliamentary seat.