Tripura Assembly elections 2018: Tripura goes to polls today, security beefed up near India-Bangladesh border

AGARTALA: As Tripura goes to polls on Sunday, the security has been beefed-up near the Indo-Bangladesh border. The counting of votes will be done on March 3.

The campaigning for the state legislative assembly election concluded on February 16.The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress are looking to root out the Communist Party of India (Marxist), which has been ruling the state for the past 25 years.

While the Manik Sarkar-led government is looking to secure another term in the state.

Meanwhile, the Election Commission has appointed a Special Observer while the authorities have sealed the international and inter-state borders with Tripura.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M) has a strong foothold in Tripura and is in power for the past 25 years.

The incumbent Chief Minister Manik Sarkar is at the helm for the past 19 years. He held the term for the fourth time after the party swept away the 2013 assembly elections.

In the last polls in 2013, the CPI (M) managed to bag an overwhelming majority with 51 seats, while the rest was shared by the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the Congress party.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which did not win even a single seat in the last polls, has been working hard to overthrow the CPI (M) rule this time. Six Congress MLAs, who first joined the Trinamool Congress (TMC), switched over to the BJP in August last year.

Apart from this, there are three major tribal parties in Tripura- the Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT), Indigenous Nationalist Party of Tripura (INPT) and National Conference of Tripura (NCT).

(With agency inputs)