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Journalism of Courage
Tripura recorded a turnout of 81.1 per cent as 60 Assembly constituencies in the state voted on Thursday amid scattered incidents of violence.
At least three people, including a CPI(M) leader and two polling agents of the party, were injured in separate incidents of violence. EVM malfunctions were reported from 40-45 booths.
Reports of violence came in from Ramnagar, Majlishpur, Mohanpur and Khayerpur Assembly constituencies of West Tripura; Charilam and Dhanpur constituencies in Sepahijala district; Kakraban-Shalgarah constituency in Gomati district; and, Shantirbazaar constituency in South Tripura.
Tripura Police Inspector General and security nodal officer G S Rao said six persons were arrested in over five incidents of poll-related violence in different parts of the state.
Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Kiran Dinkarrao Gitte said that while there were a few “stray incidents”, prompt action was taken to ensure that the situation didn’t escalate.
Tripura has had high voter turnouts – 89.38% in the last Assembly election and 91.82% in 2013, according to Election Commission figures.
After casting his vote at Maharani Tulsibati School in Agartala city, Chief Minister Manik Saha said the high turnout was a sign that people were coming out and voting freely. Saha is contesting from Town Bardowali constituency on the outskirts of Agartala city against three-term Congress MLA Ashish Kumar Saha.
Opposition leader and former CM Manik Sarkar alleged that Left Front polling agents were attacked and thrown out of booths at Dhanpur, the constituency that sent him to the Assembly four times. Sarkar is not contesting this election, having made way for CPI(M) candidate Kaushik Chanda.
On Thursday, the Election Commission announced record seizures of cash, liquor, drugs, precious metals and other freebies that were allegedly meant for distribution in the election states of Tripura, Meghalaya and Nagaland.
As of Thursday, seizures worth Rs 147.84 crore had been made, a 20-fold increase from the 2018 election season that recorded seizures worth Rs 7.24 crore, the ECI said. Of the total seizures, Rs 14.05 crore was in cash.
The Tripura Assembly election is playing out as a three-cornered fight among the ruling BJP-IPFT alliance, Opposition CPI(M)-Congress and the Tripura ADC’s ruling TIPRA Motha. The winning party or alliance will need at least 31 seats in the 60-member Tripura Assembly to form the government.
The BJP, which is looking to retain power, is contesting from 55 seats while ally IPFT is contesting from six seats.
The CPI(M)-led Left Front is contesting from 47 seats, while the Congress has 13 candidates in the fray. The TIPRA Motha, led by erstwhile royal family head Pradyot Kishore Manikya Debbarma, has fielded 42 candidates, including 21 non-tribals – the first ever for any tribal regional party in the state. The Trinamool Congress has fielded candidates on 28 seats.
Counting will be held on March 2.
Over 28 lakh voters, including 14.14 lakh men, 13.98 lakh women and 77 voters from the third gender were slated to cast their mandate for 259 candidates who are in the fray.
