Tight vigil in Tripura for tribal council elections

Adequate security arrangements have been made for Tuesday's elections to 30-member Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC), which governs two-thirds of the northeastern state's territory, a senior official here said.

At least 16 companies of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), 5,684 Tripura State Rifles (TSR) jawans, 3,435 police personnel and 263 Home Guards have been deployed for smooth conduct of the tribal council elections, Assistant Inspector General of Police (law and order) Subrata Chakraborty stated.

All 61 police stations, which come under the TTADC- governed area, have been put on alert, and reinforced with additional forces, he said, adding that extensive patrolling would be carried out in the poll-bound places.

"Vehicle-borne escorts have also been provided to the election observers and leaders of recognized political parties, and personal security officers to the contesting candidates," he said.

Altogether, 157 candidates are in the fray for the autonomous council elections -- 14 from the BJP, 28 from the Left Front, 28 from the Congress, 17 from the Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT) and four from the Indigenous Nationalist Party of Twipra (INPT).

A total of 8,65,041 voters, including 4,36,548 male and 4,28,490 females, are eligible to cast their votes at 1,244 polling stations set up in 1,060 places across the tribal council areas.

Voting would begin at 7 am on Tuesday and continue till 4 pm.