• Abhijit Nath, NET Correspondent, Tripura

Agartala, June 21, 2022: The high-voltage campaigning trail for by-election in four assembly constituencies of Tripura has come to an end on Tuesday and polling is scheduled on June 23 next and counting on June 26 next.

A multi-corner contest is going to take place where a total of 22 candidates from 9 political parties are contesting in this by-election. The main political parties in the fray are- All India Trinamool Congress, All India Forward Bloc, Bharatiya Janata Party, Communist Party of India-Marxist, Indian National Congress, TIPRA Motha, etc.

Altogether, 1,88,854 electorates are eligible to exercise their democratic rights and among them, 95,283 are female voters and 93,567 are male voters. The electorate aging above 80 years is 3072 and 666 are service voters. There are 221 polling stations located at 139 places. Among these four assembly constituencies, the highest number of electors are in 6-Agartala which is 51,639, while in 8-Town Bardowali the numbers of electoral are 46,583, in 46-Surma 47,289 voters and in 57-Jubarajnagar the numbers of voters are 43,373.

The by-election is scheduled for 6-Agartala and 8-Town Bardowali assembly constituencies under West Tripura district where the MLAs tendered their resignation in February 07 last. The MLA of 46-Surma assembly constituency has been disqualified and lying vacant since January 05 last. And the MLA of 57-Jubarajnagar assembly constituency passed away on February 01 last and has been vacant since then.

Based on previous records and present situation, Tripura Police reached to a conclusion that altogether 53 polling stations in 6-Agartala, 8-Town Bardowali and 57-Jubarajnagar assembly constituencies have been identified as ‘critical’ and ‘vulnerable’. Moreover, an adequate number of central armed police force (CAPF) personnel have been deployed in those polling stations to ensure peaceful, free and fair by-election.

In a press conference at West Tripura district’s DM office here in Agartala city on Tuesday afternoon, district’s SP Bogati Jagadeeswar Reddy said that 14 polling stations out of 111 in two assembly constituencies are marked as ‘critical’ and ‘vulnerable’ ones. “However, we have adequate CAPF personnel. We have also deployed additional forces of Tripura State Rifle (TSR) jawans. We will deploy CAPF and BSF in all the polling stations and double the security in critical areas”, the SP added.

He also said that the Police administration received 25 complaints regarding poll-related violence and breaking of Model Code of Conduct.

Meanwhile, the West district’s DM Debapriya Bardhan, who is also the district electoral officer, said that the administration has taken multiple steps to conduct the election free and fair.

“The election will be held on June 23 for which 111 polling stations were set up in 48 locations in 6-Agartala and 8-Town Bardowali Assembly Constituencies. Adequate CAPF we got from Election Commission of India. We will deploy additional polling staff in all the polling stations and there will be video footage coverage along with web cameras in each and every polling station”, Bardhan added. The administration has also imposed section 144 in these assembly constituencies from June 21 to 24 next.