Agartala, Jun 23, 2022, TRIPURATIMES Desk

Agartala, June 23: Amid tight security, four assembly constituencies in Tripura are all set to go to by-election on Thursday with all necessary arrangements put in place by the Election Commission.

The voters will seal the fate of total 22 candidates of various political parties including Chief Minister Dr. Manik Saha, who is BJP-nominated candidate from 8- Town Bordowali seat.

As announced by the Election Commission, the voting process would commence at 7 am and continue till 5 pm.

The polling personnel along with security forces already reached their respective polling stations on Wednesday.

There are total 221 polling stations in 139 locations under the four constituencies 6- Agartala, 8- Town Bordowali, 46- Surma and 57- Jubarajnagar.

As many as 1,89,032 voters are enrolled to exercise their franchise in the by-polls to four assembly constituencies: 6- Agartala, 8- Town Bordowali, 46- Surma and 57- Jubarajnagar, the CEO said on Wednesday. The figure included 93,638 male voters, 95,389 female voters and five third genders.

According to an official report, there are highest 51,739 electorates in Agartala followed by 46,622 in Town Bordowali, 47,300 in Surma and 43,371 in Jubarajnagar. There are total 673 service voters in the four constituencies.

There are total 4254 voters in 80 plus age group and Divyang categories. Among them, 1337 voters opted for voting through postal ballots. The Election Commission had issued total 1337 postal ballots while 1291 votes were cast during the two–day drive.

In the wake of torrential rains in the past few weeks in Tripura, the Election Commission has arranged waiting sheds at all polling stations to accommodate 100-150 voters standing in queue.

Of the total 221 polling stations, six will be completely managed by the women-- 6/1 and 6/2 in Agartala, 8/1 and 8/2 in Town Bordowali, 46/48 in Surma and 57/42 in Jubarajnagar.

Meanwhile, the four constituencies witnessed high-voltage campaigns by various political parties-- the candidates joined road shows, rallied and went door-to-door in the presence of a good number of star campaigners and eminent political figures over the past two weeks.

The political parties left no stone unturned to ensure victory as the by-election is being considered as semi-finals before Tripura goes to the next assembly polls early next year.

While 6- Agartala and 8- Town Bordowali assembly constituencies fell vacant following resignations of Sudip Roy Barman and Ashis Kumar Saha, who later joined Congress, the 46- Surma constituency turned vacant due to disqualification of Ashis Das under the anti-defection law. Das had joined the Trinamool Congress on October 31 last year following which he was disqualified from Tripura Assembly by Speaker Ratan Chakraborty on January 5 last.

The other seat 57- Jubarajnagar fell vacant following the demise of ex-speaker Ramendra Chandra Debnath.