Polling for the Village Committee elections under the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) began on Monday amid elaborate security arrangements across the state. Voting started at 7 am and no untoward incident had been reported till the time of filing this report.Tripura State Election Commission (SEC) Secretary Anurag Sen said polling began smoothly at all stations where candidates are contesting.The elections are being held for 2,950 seats across 587 Village Committees. Of the total 4,597 seats, 1,644 have already been declared elected unopposed, while three seats remain vacant as no nominations were received.
A total of 8,176 candidates representing different political parties are contesting the elections. Around 6.65 lakh voters are eligible to exercise their franchise in the constituencies where polling is taking place.Polling is being conducted at 1,095 of the 1,550 identified polling stations. To help voters and polling officials distinguish between different seats, four colours of ballot papers — white, light pink, light green and light blue — are being used.The SEC has deployed 74 companies of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) across Tripura for the elections. Around 8,977 personnel from the state police and Tripura State Rifles (TSR) have also been deployed, along with more than 1,500 senior officers from different security agencies to monitor the law-and-order situation.Additional security arrangements have been made at polling stations classified as highly sensitive, where CAPF personnel have been deployed.
A total of 7,458 polling personnel, organised into 1,243 teams, have been assigned election duties across the polling stations.West Tripura district Superintendent of Police Namit Pathak, who inspected polling stations during the voting process, said polling began on schedule and voters had started arriving at the booths.“The polling started at 7 am. Voters are arriving to cast their ballots and the overall situation remains peaceful,” Pathak said.