Over 79% turnout in Tripura Assembly by-poll

Agartala, Sep 23 (IANS) Over 79 per cent of the 57,906-strong electorate have cast their votes in the Badharghat Assembly by-poll in Tripura on Monday, officials said. The counting of votes will take place on Friday.

"At 5 p.m., over 79 per cent of the total electorate have cast their votes. The final polling percentage is likely to increase as few hundred voters are still in the queue after the end of the scheduled time of balloting which is 5 p.m. No untoward incident was reported from anywhere in the constituency," Tapan Kumar Das, Additional District Magistrate of West Tripura district, told IANS.

"Election officials have immediately dealt with some complaints received from the candidates and the contesting parties," he added.

Das said that security personnel have dispersed hundreds of unauthorised gatherings violating the prohibitory order under Section 144 of CrPc in the Badharghat Assembly segment under the West Tripura district.

In a four-cornered electoral battle, the by-poll is being contested between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Mimi Majumder, opposition Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Front nominee Bulti Biswas, Congress aspirant Ratan Chandra Das and SUCI(C) contestant Mridul Kanti Sarkar.

The by-poll to the Badharghat seat, reserved for Scheduled Caste candidates, was necessitated following the death of sitting BJP legislator Dilip Sarkar.

Five-time Congress legislator Sarkar, who joined the BJP in 2017 along with seven other Congress MLAs, died on April 1 after prolonged illness.