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Pics by Abhisek Saha
Tripura assembly elections passed off peacefully –barring some stray incidents of violence- with more than 82 per cent voting.
Polling began at 7 am and ended at 4 pm ( in some places polling is still going at 6 pm) amidst massive three-tier security rings. Since the morning itself long queues of electors were seen in front of the polling stations. The queue only grew longer and serpentine with the passing of the time.
There were apprehensions of violence during the elections, and the ECI declared that it would make the elections free and fair and ensure zero-violence. The ECI to keep its commitment planned unprecedented security arrangements since the run up of the elections itself and the security measures yielded results. But still, there were some stray incidents- in Kakraban one polling agent was vritically injured and had to be shifted to Agartala GB Hospital for brain surgery when he was attacked. There were also similar stray incidents in some parts of the state.
Apart from that there were reports of booth jamming at the last moment in some rural polling stations, allegedly by TIPRA Motha activists.
There were around 28.13 lakhs – including 13.98 lakh women and 77 third genders – voters and 259 candidates across 3, 328 polling stations.
Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha and Congress heavyweight Ashish Kumar Saha are pitted against each other in Bordowali constituency. The Chief Minister cast his vote at Maharani Tulsibati HS School in front of Ujjayanta Palace and claimed that not only would he coast to a big win from the Bardowali seat, but BJP will also return to power with a comfortable majority, as people have rejected the CPI-M-Congress alliance in the election.
As many as 10 polling stations in the city are being managed by all women polling officials and women security personnel.
In the midst of a tough battle for state power, the Abhoynagar area under Agartala constituency sprang a pleasant surprise as both Congress and BJP workers erected their makeshift booth camp together and shared snacks with a smile.
In Agartala, heavyweight Congress leader Sudip Roybarman is contesting against BJP nominee and party’s state general secretary Papia Datta.
Former CM and CPI-M Politburo member Manik Sarkar alleged that ruling party cadres resorted to violence and prevented voters in Dhanpur and Mohanpur at the behest of Union Minister Pratima Bhowmik and Education Minister Ratan Lal Nath – both are contesting as BJP nominees from the seats respectively.
He expressed resentment over the response of election machinery and sought the attention of ECI.
Throwing a challenge to the saffron camp, one-time arch-rivals Left Front and the Congress have joined hands. The Left Front’s main constituent CPI-M has fielded candidates in 43 seats, its other partners CPI, Forward Bloc, and RSP are in the fray in one seat each, while Congress has been allotted 13 seats.
In Ramnagar, both LF and Congress are backing an independent candidate Purusattam Roybarman.
Tribal outfit Tipra Motha has put up candidates in 42 seats, while the Trinamool Congress is battling in 28 constituencies. There are 58 independents and 20 women aspirants in the race. The vote count is on March 2.
