Guwahati: Today, tension erupted at Champa Haor under the Tula Shikhar Rural Development Block in Tripura’s Khowai district as counting of votes for the Village Committee elections was underway.
Police and Central Armed Police Forces personnel resorted to a lathi-charge to bring the situation under control after a disturbance broke out at the counting venue. The exact cause of the incident was not immediately clear.
Counting for the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council Village Committee elections began across the state at 8 am amid heightened security. State Election Commission secretary Anurag Sen said counting was being conducted at all 44 designated centres.
As the elections were held using ballot papers, officials said counting could take considerable time in some areas. Sen said the process in larger rural development blocks, including Manu in Dhalai district, could continue for up to two days.
Polling for 587 Village Committees was held on 28th September , recording an overall voter turnout of 81 per cent. Of the 4,597 seats, elections were held for 2,950, while 1,644 seats were won unopposed by Tipra Motha Party (TMP) and BJP candidates.
A total of 8,176 candidates from the TMP, BJP, CPI(M), Congress and IPFT are contesting the remaining seats. Security has been tightened after firing incident at Warengbari on polling day, in which a TMP candidate was injured.