JOIN USHigh-voltage campaign for Tripura Assembly polls ends
Campaigning for Assembly elections in Tripura came to an end on Tuesday evening amid last minute confidence expressed by the political parties about outcomes of the elections.
Polling for the 60-member Tripura Assembly will be conducted at 3,328 polling stations amid tight security.
Officials in the office of Chief Electoral Officer, Tripura said the campaigning for the elections concluded at 4pm on Tuesday without any major law and order issue.
Political parties not only kept their efforts on till the last minute of the campaigning but also exuded confidence about their victory. Chief Minister Manik Saha claimed that BJP and its ally would win most of the seats and Tripura this time will have no opposition.
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The CPI (M)-Congress, contesting the Assembly elections in seat sharing arrangement for the first time, claimed that BJP would comfortably be removed from power as they destroyed democracy by resorting to large scale violence since they came to power in 2018.
Tipra Motha, the regional party, which is contesting the elections without any alliance said the party would stake claim to form its government if no party gets a majority. The party, led by Pradyot Deb Barma has put up candidates in 42 seats with "Greater Tipraland" as its main poll plank. The party is expected to do well in the 21 tribal dominated constituencies.
Counting of votes will be conducted on March 2.
During the month-long campaign, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP president J P Nadda and a dozen central ministers canvassed in favour of candidates of the saffron party.
The BJP organised ‘Vijay Sankalp Yatra, rallies and roadshows to woo the electors.
CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, and senior leaders Prakash Karat, Brinda Karat and Mohammad Salim, along with former CM Manik Sarkar and party state secretary Jitendra Choudhury campaigned in favour of the party.
Congress leaders Adhir Chowdhury, Dipa Dasmunshi and AICC general secretary Ajay Kumar campaigned for the grand old party, but neither Rahul Gandhi nor Priyanka Gandhi Vadra visited the state for campaigning.
Former royal scion Pradyot Kishore Manikya Debbarma single-handedly canvassed for his Tipra Motha party.
While the BJP’s star campaigners highlighted the development that has taken place in the northeastern state in the last five years, the Left Front and the Congress stressed on “misrule and misgovernance” of the BJP-IPFT government.
Tipra Motha, a regional political party contesting 42 Assembly constituencies, stressed on its Greater Tipraland statehood demand.
Adequate security measures have been taken across the state and along the international border with Bangladesh, a senior police officer said.
A total of 259 candidates are in the electoral race, of whom 20 are women.
The BJP is contesting 55 Assembly seats, its ally IPFT has fielded candidates in six constituencies, while there will be friendly fight in one seat.
The CPI(M) is contesting 47 seats and the Congress is fighting in 13 constituencies.
The Trinamool Congress has fielded nominees in 28 constituencies and there are 58 independent aspirants too.
The ruling BJP has fielded the highest number of women candidates with 12.
As many as 28.13 lakh voters are eligible to exercise their franchise on February 16.
(With PTI inputs)