Tripura Lok Sabha Polls: 53% turnout till 1 pm

Tripura: People of all ages were seen in big numbers right from the morning to vote for the Tripura West Lok Sabha constituency.

According to reports voter turnout of 52.67 per cent has been recorded till 1 pm on Friday amid allegations of irregularities.

The opposition Congress and CPI (M) have alleged that large-scale “rigging” is taking place in several places across the constituency, with the Election Commission of India (ECI) saying that it received some complaints and was looking into those.

Moreover, in the by-election to the 7-Ramnagar assembly seat, which was being held simultaneously, a turnout of 43.01 per cent was recorded till 1 pm.

“The way voters are coming to the booths despite the scorching heat, we expect that the turnout would be 80 per cent by 5 pm,” Tripura West’s Returning Officer Vishal Kumar said.

State Congress president Ashish Kumar Saha, the CPI (M)-backed candidate in the Tripura West seat, alleged that besides “rigging,” his supporters were being threatened by several miscreants.

Congress-supported CPI (M) candidate in Ramnagar Ratan Das has said that “goons” drove out his agents from most of the booths.

“They started threatening the agents from last night and we are unhappy with the role of the Election Commission,” he said.

Chief Minister Manik Saha said the EC has assured that voting would be held in a free, fair, and peaceful manner.