Tripura Assembly Elections 2018: Over 23% voter turnout recorded till 11 am

The voting for Tripura Assembly elections is currently underway for 59 seats. The voter turnout till 11 am was recorded at 23.25 per cent. 

The state is witnessing a fierce battle between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Communist Party of India (Marxist).

The Left Front – CPI (M), Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) and All India Forward Bloc (AIFB) – has been in power in the state for the last 25 years, with incumbent Chief Minister Manik Sarkar at the helm for the past 19 years. 

The voting is being held in 59 seats, out of the total 60. CPIM candidate for the Charilam constituency Ramendra Narayan Deb Barma died six days ago. The assembly constituency will now go to polls on March 12.

In few constituencies, voters queued up at polling booths before 7 am. 

In few hilly and tribal areas, women huddled in large numbers outside poll booths in their colourful traditional attires.

Voting will end at 4 pm in all the 3,214 polling stations in the state, election office sources said.

A total of 25,73,413 registered voters – including of 13,05,375 males and 12,68,027 females – will decide the fate of  307 candidates. The number of voters under the third gender category in Tripura is 11 and that of the new voters is 47,803.

The BJP entered a pre-poll alliance with tribal political outfit Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura (IPFT), while the Congress is contesting the polls alone. 

Counting of votes will be held on March 3.

The campaigning for the Tripura Assembly elections concluded on February 16. 

Earlier, the Election Commission appointed ITBP Director General R K Pachnanda the special observer for the election in Tripura.  The CPI(M) has dubbed the move as "unusual". The party also objected to his closed-door meeting with the state BJP president.