Agartala: Under the shadow of insurgents' violence, battle lines have been drawn between Tripura's ruling Left Front and its arch-rival Congress and Indigenous Nationalist Party of Tripura (INPT) for the February 26 elections to the 60-member Assembly.

The dominant Left Front partner Communist party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) alone is contesting 55 seats and allies CPI – 2, All India Forward Bloc (AIFB) – 1 and Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) – 2.

Congress has fielded 42 candidates and its ally INPT in 18 constituencies reserved for tribals.

Besides Left Front and Cong-INPT combine, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Trinamool Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) are contesting in a few seats. The total number of candidates in fray are 254, of which maximum are independents.

Altogether, 19,35,143 voters are eligible to exercise their franchise, of which 10,02,152 are males and 9,32,991 females.

For the first time, electronic voting machines will be used in the state.

A total 2,372 polling stations will be set up for the polls and out of these, 124 polling stations were identified as hyper-sensitive, 353 very sensitive and 412 sensitive.

Helicopters would be pressed into service for dropping poll personnel in remote and inaccessible parts of the state and to keep aerial vigil to ensure peaceful conduct of the polls.

With the electioneering picking up momentum in the state, militancy-related violence as well as political clashes have increased sharply in the last fortnight.

The outlawed insurgents of National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) killed 11 supporters and activists of CPI-M on January 26 in West Tripura district, about 15 km away from Agartala.

Within a week of the incident, another 12 people were kidnapped from a village in North Tripura district by the ultras of the same outfit. The CPI-M claimed that they were its supporters and were being held captive inside Bangladesh.

Police said at least 35 activists of CPI-M and seven activists of INPT were killed either by the ultras or by political activists.

A fear psychosis prevails in interior areas because of insurgency. The All Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF) has called for a boycott of the election and NLFT, which according to CPI-M is the armed organisation of INPT, is intimidating voters.

However, to instil confidence, the Army has been deployed in sensitive areas and security beefed up throughout Tripura to ensure free and peaceful election.

Chief secretary V Thulasidas said the state government had taken all necessary precautions to make the election free and fair and the Centre assured all possible help to check insurgents trying to disrupt the poll.

Thulasidas said the Centre was despatching more paramilitary forces and Army units as required by the state government. The strength of Border Security Force (BSF) would also be increased along the 840 km-border with Bangladesh.

Security forces have launched a joint operation throughout the state to seize illegal weapons and check criminal activities, Thulasidas said, adding the security scenario was being reviewed on a day-to-day basis.

The campaign has picked up with leaders of the main parties travelling from one corner to the another of the state wooing the voters.

Street corner meetings and rallies are being addressed by state and national leaders of the different political parties.

Tripura Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president Birajit Sinha announced that Congress president Sonia Gandhi will address two meetings – one in North Tripura and the other in Agartala on February 23, just a day before the campaign ends.

He said besides Gandhi, Congress working committee member Pranab Mukherjee, Chattisgarh Chief Minister Ajit Jogi and Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Mukut Mithi will join the campaign within a few days.

CPI-M politburo members Prakash Karat and Biman Bose addressed several public gatherings. West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharya will join the campaign trail soon and stay for three days to boost the Left Front campaign.

Besides, Chief Minister Manik Sarkar (CPI-M), two other former Chief Ministers of Congress – Sudhir Ranjan Majumder and Samir Ranjan Burman and insurgent-turned- politician Bijoy Hrangkhawl, who is the president of INPT, are the key candidates in fray.

PTI