Polling for the Village Committee elections under the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) began across Tripura at 7 AM on Monday amid tight security, with the State Election Commission reporting a peaceful start and no untoward incident so far.
Tripura State Election Commission (SEC) Secretary Anurag Sen said polling commenced smoothly at all stations where contests are being held. He said the Commission had made extensive arrangements to ensure the elections passed off peacefully.
Elections are being conducted for 2,950 of the 4,597 Village Committee seats across 587 Village Committees. Of the total seats, 1,644 have already been declared elected unopposed, while three seats remain vacant as no nominations were received.
A total of 8,176 candidates from different political parties are in the fray. Around 6.65 lakh voters are eligible to cast their votes in the areas where polling is being held.
According to the SEC, polling is taking place at 1,095 of the 1,550 polling stations identified for the election. Four different colours of ballot papers—white, light pink, light green and light blue—are being used for different seats to help voters and polling personnel identify the ballots.
Security has been significantly strengthened across the state. As many as 74 companies of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) have been deployed, along with around 8,977 personnel of Tripura Police and Tripura State Rifles (TSR). More than 1,500 senior officers from various security agencies have also been deployed to monitor the law-and-order situation.
Additional security arrangements have been made at polling stations classified as highly sensitive, with CAPF personnel deployed at such locations.
Around 7,458 polling personnel, organised into 1,243 teams, have been assigned election duties across the polling stations.
West Tripura Superintendent of Police Namit Pathak, who inspected several polling stations, said voting began at 7 AM and voters were arriving to exercise their franchise. He said the situation remained peaceful.
“Security forces have been deployed, and a total of 29 polling booths are under West Tripura district where polling is being conducted,” Pathak said.
