Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, Feb 16: The Chief Minister of Tripura, Manik Saha, asked all voters to cast their votes and turn out in large numbers as voting for 60 Assembly seats began on Thursday. At the hustings in the Northeast state, the chief minister professed confidence that the BJP would win a second consecutive term.
At the Maharani Tulsibati Girl’s Higher Secondary school, Saha arrived early to get his finger inked for the election.
“It feels good. I urge all voters to cast their vote,” speaking to the ANI after casting his vote in the Borodowali constituency, Saha said.
“You all can see how people have come out to vote. I am confident that the BJP will definitely form the government here,” he added.
On Thursday, the voting for the Tripura Assembly elections started under heavy security. Voting began at seven am and will last until four pm. Over 28.14 lakh electorates are eligible to cast ballots, of which 14,15,233 are male voters, 13,99,289 are female voters, and 62 are of a third gender, according to the Election Commission. 3,337 polling places are open for voting.
For the elections, adequate security measures have been taken. The state’s 97 police stations are completely run by women. It has 94,815 voters ages 18 to 19 and 6,21,505 voters ages 22 to 29. The age bracket of 40 to 59 has the most voters (9,81,089). On 60 Assembly seats, the 259 candidates’ futures will be decided.
As Congress and CPIM, who have been bitter enemies for years, formed a pre-election coalition to unseat the ruling BJP, a triangular struggle is expected. The BJP is running in coalition with the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura in an effort to hold onto power (IPFT).
The Tipra Motha, which is seen as a kingmaker in the event of a hung assembly, was launched by the royal scion Pradyot Kishore Debbarma in 2021 and quickly gained prominence in the region.
The Trinamool Congress, a minor participant in the state, has also put out candidates for a number of seats.
