Agartala, April 7 (IANS) A quarter of Tripura's electorate cast their ballot till 10 a.m. Monday as polling was held in one of the two constituencies in the state, an official said.
Balloting took place in West Tripura constituency with no untoward incidents reported so far, officials said.
"Long queues were seen in most of the 1,605 polling stations. An excellent weather helped the voters to come to the polling booths early," Tripura Chief Electoral Officer Ashutosh Jindal told IANS. He added that so far 25 percent votes were cast in the parliamentary constituency.
The balloting started at 7 a.m. and it will continue till 5 p.m.
"In some polling booths, due to technical snags of EVMs (Electronic Voting Machine), the voting was delayed for sometime, but the engineers rectified them and the balloting started as usual," Jindal said.
Election in the tribal reserved Tripura East constituency will be held April 12.
According to Jindal, 1.2 million voters are eligible to vote Monday to pick a Lok Sabha member from 13 candidates, including a woman. Almost all the candidates are first-time contenders.
In 2009, the CPI-M's Khagen Das won the seat defeating Congress's Sudip Roy Barman, state's opposition leader.
This time the main battle in the constituency will be between CPI-M's trade union leader Sankar Prasad Datta and Congress' Arunoday Saha, a former vice chancellor of Tripura University, a central varsity.
BJP state president Sudhindra Chandra Dasgupta, Trinamool Congress's state chief Ratan Chakraborty, a former Congress minister, Tripura Pragatishil Gramin Congress (TPGC) president Subal Bhowmik and Aam Aadmi Party's Salil Saha, a physician, are the other aspirants.
Both Chakraborty and Bhowmik, former Congress legislators, left the party last year and formed Tripura unit of the Trinamool and TPGC respectively.
The Left has won from West Tripura 11 times since the first Lok Sabha election of 1952 and the Congress four times. The Congress For Democracy, a breakaway faction of the Congress, secured the seat in 1977.
The ruling CPI-M this time dropped both its sitting MPs - Das and Bajuban Reang (East Tripura), who has won the seat a record seven times since 1980.
The CPI-M is focusing on the development work it has done in Tripura, while attacking the Congress led UPA (United Progressive Alliance) government for poor governance, price rise and corruption in the country.
The opposition is harping on Left's miss-governance, unemployment and rising crimes against women in Tripura.
Eng vs Aus: Steve Smith's 12th century in Ashes, now only behind Bradman; In this case ahead of Ponting and Sachin
Australia's Steve Smith has once again shown why he is regarded as one of the best batsmen of the current generation. On the second day of the second Test of the Ashes series, he scored an inning of
Sitharaman said- If Muslims are not happy in India then why would there be more population than in Pakistan, attack on Western perception
Nirmala Sitharaman on Muslims Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today attacked the 'negative Western perception' against India. Speaking at an event in Washington, the Finance Minister talked
Tough Bio-bubble for IPL: More than 750 staff from 14 hotels in UAE underwent corona test before players arrived; There will be 30 thousand tests in the entire tournament
BCCI is trying hard to save the second phase of IPL from Corona. During the league, UAE's VPS Healthcare has been partnered for services like Emergency Medical Service, Sports Medicine Support,
Praveen murder case: lover strangled him with a bedsheet before sari, wife attacked him on the head with a ladle.
Raveena, who killed her husband Praveen along with her YouTuber lover Suresh Raghav, was not only quick in making short videos but was also working fast while plotting the murder and disposing of the
Afghanistan skipper Nabi blames losing early wickets for loss
Canberra, Feb 18 (IANS) Afghanistan skipper Mohammad Nabi rued losing too many wickets upfront as the main cause for their loss against Bangladesh in a Pool A World Cup encounter here
Rahul Gandhi said on vaccination - even those without internet have the right to live, even without online registration, everyone should get the vaccine
Congress MP Rahul Gandhi today questioned the government and the system on the issue of the Corona vaccine. Rahul Gandhi has said that to get the vaccine, the system of mandatory online registration
IMD Foundation Day: Three incidents and then IMD was established in 1875, PM Modi launched 'Mission Mausam'
Established in 1875 during the British period, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) is going to complete 150 years of its establishment on January 15. From a simple beginning to the cutting-edge
Waqf properties will be registered, The Central Government launched the Umeed Portal; Know its benefits
While the issue of seeking an interim stay on the Waqf Amendment Act 2025 is pending in the Supreme Court, the government has taken steps forward under this law. The Central Government launched the
Covid-19: CDSCO starts inspection of pharmaceutical companies, a committee constituted to ensure quality
Amidst the apprehension of the fourth wave of the Corona epidemic, the central government has started preparations. In this series, the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) along with
Congress trying to win back expelled Seemandhra MPs
Hyderabad, April 7 (IANS) The Congress is trying to win back former union minister of state and MP A. Sai Prathap to its fold.Prathap, who was one of the six MPs expelled from the party in February,
