Lok Sabha elections: Tripura gears up for counting day with robust security, three-tier cordons and CCTVs

While the West Tripura Lok Sabha constituency recorded a voter turnout of 82.52 per cent in the first phase of the Lok Sabha elections on April 19, the East Tripura constituency saw a voter turnout of 80.32 per cent in the second phase on April 26. The bypoll for the Ramnagar Assembly seat on April 19 saw a voter turnout of 67.81 per cent.

The West Tripura and East Tripura (ST reserved) constituencies comprise 30 Assembly seats each and will have 60 counting halls. Separate counting halls have been set up for counting postal ballots. Votes cast in 30 Assembly segments of the West Tripura seat would be counted in seven locations, while votes for the East Tripura seat would be held at 15 locations.

The electronic voting machines (EVMs) have been stored in strong rooms stationed in all 20 counting centres, as per Election Commission of India (ECI) guidelines. CEO Agarwal said adequate security was in place to ensure a free, fair and smooth counting process. Barricades were set up, all the strong rooms and counting halls were brought under CCTV coverage and a three-tier cordoning system was in place to prevent the unauthorised entry of people at the counting venues

While an executive magistrate would be stationed at the entrance of the polling centres, state police personnel would oversee the frisking procedures at the second cordon while Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) personnel would be in charge of the innermost cordon at the doors of the counting halls.

The ECI has also appointed 31 counting observers to ensure the entire process goes off smoothly, Agarwal added.

A crucial election

The 2024 Lok Sabha elections are crucial for Tripura, in more ways than one. This year, 37,000 Bru migrants displaced from Mamit, Kolasib and Lunglei districts of Mizoram, who were staying in makeshift relief camps in Tripura since 1997, cast their votes as permanent residents in a Lok Sabha election for the first time since they fled their homes.

Earlier, they cast their votes in three Lok Sabha elections through ballot papers at their transit camps where Mizoram officials would come and facilitate their voting process or at special polling centres set up for them at Kahnmun in Mizoram’s Mamit district, which is situated right across the Tripura-Mizoram inter-state boundary on the Mizoram side.

Nine candidates contested the Lok Sabha elections this year in Tripura. Among these were former Tripura chief minister and BJP heavyweight Biplab Kumar Deb, Congress state president Ashish Kumar Saha, Tripura ‘princess’ and ‘Maharani’ of Chhattisgarh’s erstwhile Kawardha royal family Kriti Devi Debbarma and tribal leader Rajendra Reang.

The elections were held peacefully barring allegations of scattered violence and electoral malpractices, mostly raised by the Opposition INDIA bloc partners CPI(M) and Congress.

Over 20 poll officials were suspended during the poll process for violating ECI guidelines.