In Tripura, the State election department is gearing up its machinery for the ensuing Lok Sabha elections for two seats in the State, slated to be held on the 19th and the 26th of April. Polling for Tripura (West) seat will be held on the 19th of April, whereas the electorates in Tripura (East) Lok Sabha seat will vote on the 26th of April. The by-election to the Ramnagar Assembly seat will take place on the 19th of April. The by-poll has been necessitated following the demise of BJP’s sitting MLA, Surajit Dutta.
Currently, preparations are in full swing in the State by the election machinery to conduct free, fair and peaceful polls. Officials said, over 28.56 lakh electorates in the State are eligible to exercise their right to franchise in the ensuing Lok Sabha elections next month.
Talking to Akashvani News, Tripura’s Chief Electoral Officer, Puneet Agrawal said that there are more than 14 lakh voters in the Tripura (West) Lok Sabha constituency and 13.95 lakh electorates in Tripura (East) Lok Sabha seat. He said, the home voting facility will be provided to senior citizens above the age of 85 years and to Divyangjans. The CEO said the number of senior citizens who are 85 years and above are 18,676, whereas, the number of divyangjan voters is 19,876.
Mr. Agrawal added that there will be 3,349 polling stations in the State. In Tripura (East) LS seat there will be 1,664 polling stations and in Tripura (West) there will be 1,685 polling stations. There will also be model polling stations. The all-women-managed polling stations will be two in each Assembly segment. Whereas, in the jurisdiction of Agartala, Udaipur and Dharmanagar Municipal Corporations there will be a minimum of five women managed polling stations. He also said that so far 70 companies of Central Armed Police Force and BSF personnel have reached Tripura. Meanwhile, the police in Agartala which comes under Tripura (West) Lok Sabha constituency have started the night patrolling with the model code of conduct coming into force.
The BJP has announced candidate’s candidature of former Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb as the nominee for Tripura West seat and Maharani Kriti Singh Debbarma as the candidate for Tripura East seat. The Opposition Congress has announced the name of Kashish Kumar Saha as the candidate who will contest against Biplab Kumar Deb. However, their nominee against Kriti Singh Debbarma is yet to be announced by the CPI (M).
