Agartala: Around 20 per cent polling has been reported for the 60-member Tripura Assembly election and there has been no report of any untoward incident in the state till 10 am today, Election office sources said.

Large number of voters were seen standing in long queues at different booths in urban areas, while in hilly and tribal compact areas, tribal women mostly turned up dressed in traditional attire. The weather in the state is fine and there were no reports of rain from any part of the state, sources said.

Polling, which began this morning, was being conducted with specially modified Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) provided by Election Commission, sources said. About 16,000 election officials escorted by security forces were deployed at the polling booths. Each election official had a life insurance cover of Rs two lakh, sources said.

A record number of 60,000 security personnel, mostly paramilitary forces including ITBP, BSP and CRPF, were deployed for the polling.

"People in large numbers queued up in front of polling stations well before voting opened at 7 am in the entire state. Polling ends at 4 pm," said G S G Ayyangar, the chief electoral officer.

In all, 2.03 million people, about half of them women, are eligible to exercise their franchise to decide the fate of 313 candidates, including 31 women and 64 independents. "In the wake of threats from separatists and possible violence, a record 60,000 security personnel have been deployed while four air surveillance team led by senior police officials are conducting air surveillance," the election official said.

"The Election Commission has deployed specially modified electronic voting machines (EVMs) in all the 2,391 polling stations across the state to check possible malpractice and other irregularities," he added. About 16,000 poll officials have been deployed to conduct the elections and each polling official has got a life insurance cover of Rs.200,000.

Of the 2,391 polling stations, 108 have been categorised as very vulnerable and 550 as vulnerable in view of militancy and other security related problems. The Election Commission, for the first time, has appointed 750 micro observers to assist 60 general observers to oversee the poll preparations.

Saturday's vote would decide the fate of Chief Minister Manik Sarkar, his 10 Cabinet colleagues, two former chief ministers - Samir Ranjan Burman and Sudhir Ranjan Majumder, Rajmata Bibhu Kumari Devi, opposition leader Ratan Lal Nath, Indigenous Nationalist Party of Tripura (INPT) president and former militant leader Bijoy Kumar Hrangkhawl and host of top leaders of various parties.

After a month long high-voltage campaign for the crucial Assembly polls in Tripura, the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) led Left Front is locked in a direct fight against the opposition Congress party.

Source : IANS