Among the 28,13,478 eligible voters, 14,14,576 voters are men and 13,98,825 are women, while there are a record 77 transgender voters. As many as 13,500 Bru migrants from Mizoram, who are being permanently resettled in parts of Tripura as per a central government initiative to end their protracted displacement, would be able to cast votes in the Assembly elections. There will be 3,328 polling stations at 2,504 places across the state, with average voters per station this year being 845.
“As many as 31,000 polling personnel and 25,000 security personnel of central forces are ready to conduct the election in a free, fair and peaceful manner. Besides, 31,000 employees of the state armed police and the state police will be deployed to maintain law and order,” news agency PTI quoted the Chief Electoral Officer as saying.
The BJP campaign for the Tripura polls saw a slew of star campaigners, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, party president J P Nadda, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Assam CM and North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) chief Himanta Biswa Sarma, visiting Tripura on different occasions.
Meanwhile, the Opposition CPIM and its Left Front partners held rallies in all Assembly constituencies before the campaign hour ran out. Major rallies were held at Dhanpur, Sabroom, Belonia, Panisagar and Khowai constituencies, along with the rest of the seats where Left Front candidates are contesting, not to mention the seats where Congress candidates are in the fray. Joint processions of Congress and Communist party supporters were seen at the rallies, with many flaunting colourful balloons, ribbons and flags.
All Congress candidates held either roadshows or rallies in their areas, especially at Agartala where MLA Sudip Roy Barman joined a rally with Congress and CPIM supporters on board. MLA Ashish Kumar Saha was found heading a major rally at his seat, Town Bardowali as well, where he would be having a face-off with CM Saha.
TIPRA Motha, which rules the state’s tribal autonomous district council, will go solo since no political party has given it a written assurance on its core demand of Greater Tipraland, party chief Pradyot Kishore reiterated, adding that his party would rather sit in the Opposition than join a government without the assurance.
On behalf of the Trinamool Congress, West Bengal Education Minister and senior Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Bratya Basu said the party is very organised before the polls this time. He added that the party did not have a proper organisational structure in the past due to which it could not do well despite support for TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee. However, Basu said, whether TMC would be chosen as the true alternative to BJP is “subject to discussion”.
To know more about politics in Tripura, also read:
Bengali concerns, tribal hopes, and a three-way race: The essential Tripura election primer
In Tripura battle, ‘king’ may be kingmaker
BJP fears gap narrowing in Tripura as Left, Cong inch closer gingerly
‘Greater Tipraland’: With Tripura assembly elections in 2023, a lookback at the demand for the state
A ‘greenhorn’ CM vs a seasoned MLA in Town Bardowali contest
‘Pulling strings’ for election awareness: Puppetry turns heads in poll-bound Tripura
