Tripura to go to polls on Thursday in high-stakes contest, over 28 lakh voters eligible to exercise franchise

Agartala (Tripura) [India], February 15 : Tripura will go to the polls on Thursday in a multi-cornered contest in which the ruling BJP is facing a challenge from Left-Congress combine besides Tripra Motha. Trinamool Congress has also put up candidates on several seats.
Over 28 lakh voters are eligible to cast their votes in the election for the 60-member assembly in the border state.
Tripura is the first state to go to the polls this year. While polling for Nagaland and Meghalaya assemblies will be held on February 27, five more states face elections this year in the run up to the Lok Sabha elections in 2024.
A total of 259 candidates, including 20 women, are in the fray in Tripura. The counting of votes will be done on March 2.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is contesting the polls in alliance with the Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura (IPFT). BJP has fielded candidates in 55 constituencies while IPFT is contesting five seats. BJP has fielded 12 women candidates.
The BJP had stormed to power in the last election in alliance with IPFT and had ousted the Left Front which had been in power in the border state for 35 years since 1978. The BJP is exuding confidence that it will improve its performance. Party's top leaders including Prime Minster Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and party chief JP Nadda campaigned in the state.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adiyanath also campaigned in Tripura.
The Left Front is contesting 47 seats and Congress is contesting on 13. CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, and senior party leaders Brinda Karat, Prakash Karat, Mohammad Salim and former Chief Minister Manik Sarkar campaigned for the party in Tripura.
Congress campaigners included party leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Dipa Dasmunshi and Ajoy Kumar.
Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra did not campaign in the state.
Tipra Motha, which has raised demand for Greater Tipraland, could upset calculations of both BJP and Left-Congress alliance. Tipra Motha, chaired by Tripura royal scion Pradyot Bikram Manikya Debbarma, is contesting 42 seats.
Trinamool Congress is contesting 28 seats and there are 58 independent candidates.
Chief Minister Manik Saha is contesting the polls from Town Borodowali. Congress has fielded Ashish Kumar Saha against him. Manik Saha replaced Biplab Kumar Deb as chief minister in May last year.
Deputy Chief Minister Jishnu Dev Varma is contesting from Charilam seat.
Tripura BJP state president Rajiv Bhattacharjee is contesting from Banamalipur constituency. Biplab Deb earlier represented the seat.
CPI(M) state general secretary Jitendra Choudhury is contesting from Sabroom constituency.
The BJP has fielded Union Minister Pratima Bhoumik from Dhanpur constituency. Bhoumik is the first woman from Tripura to become a Union minister. Tipra Motha has fielded Amiya Dayal Noatia against Bhoumik in the seat.
BJP has fielded sitting MLA Pranajit Singh Roy from Radhakishorpur constituency. He is pitted against CPI-ML's Partha Karmakar.
BJP's Papiya Dutta will face Congress candidate Sudip Roy Barman in Agartala.
In Karbook, CPI(M) candidate Priyamani Debbarma is contesting against BJP's Ashim Tripura and Tipra Motha's Sanjay Manik.
BJP won 36 seats in the assembly and got 43.59 per cent of the votes in the 2018 election. The CPI (M) won 16 seats with 42.22 per cent vote share. The IPFT won eight seats and Congress could not open its account.
According to Election Commission, the state has 28,14,584 voters including 14,15,233 male voters, 13,99,289 are woman voters and 62 are of the third gender. They will cast their votes at 3,337 polling stations. Voting will be held from 7 am to 4 pm.
Adequate security arrangements have been made for the polls. The state has 97 all-women managed police stations. It has 94,815 voters in the 18-19 age group and 6,21,505 in the 22-29 age goup. The highest number of voters are in 40-59 age group at 9,81,089.