Re-polling at six booths were held in six Assembly constituencies in Tripura on Monday. Over 85% voters polled out of the 5,582 voters, IANS reported. The total voter turnout in the Assembly elections in the state is 92%.
On February 23, the Election Commission had ordered re-polling at one booth each in the constituencies of Sonamura, Teliamura, Dhanpur, Sabroom, Ampinagar and Kadamtala-Kurti. Dhanpur is Chief Minister Manik Sarkar’s constituency. The results of the Assembly elections will be declared on March 3.
Tripura Chief Electoral Officer Sriram Taranikanti had earlier said that 191 Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trails and 89 Electronic Voting Machines had malfunctioned across the state during the polling on February 18.
On Friday, the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist) blamed the state election department for “failing to conduct a proper election and criminal negligence”. Tripura CPI(M) Secretary Bijan Dhar threatened to act against such “negligence” through “street movements”.
He questioned how had the poll monitor had ordered re-polling when no political party had asked for it. Dhar also claimed that the Election Commission had ordered re-polling only in constituencies where the CPI(M) was likely to win.
However, Tripura BJP Spokesperson Ashok Sinha welcomed the Election Commission’s decision to hold re-polling, claiming that some electronic voting machines had malfunctioned.
On Saturday, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju said he was confident of a Bharatiya Janata Party victory in Tripura, IANS reported. “The BJP is going to form government in Tripura,” he said. “That is the ground report, and our assessment is that [we will form the government] with absolute majority.”
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