88 percent turnout in Tripura by-election

AGARTALA, Feb 13: Around 88 percent of the 38,270 voters on Saturday cast their ballots in the by-election to the Amarpur assembly seat in Tripura, an official said.

The polling, which was totally peaceful, started at 8 a.m. amidst tight security and ended at 5 p.m without any interruption. The counting will be on February 16.

“No untoward incident has been reported so far and polling was completely peaceful and smooth. Around 88 percent votes were recorded when polling ended at 5 p.m.,” Additiol Chief Electoral Officer, Debashish Modak told IANS.

There were 51 polling stations. Of the total 38,270 eligible voters, 18,807 are women. Though there were seven candidates in the by-election, the main contest was likely to be between ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) nominee Parimal Debth, Congress’s Chanchal Dey and Bharatiya Jata Party’s (BJP) Ranjit Das.

There are four other aspirants from local parties.

The by-election was necessitated following the resigtion of CPI-M legislator Manoranjan Acharjee after he was alleged to have molested a minor girl.

Acharjee, who was elected in 2008 and again in 2013 from the constituency, has denied the charges. The CPI-M expelled him on charges of wrongdoing.

“I was let down by a section of party men who do not tolerate me,” the 54-year-old leader told IANS. (IANS)