Agartala: An estimated 38 per cent of the more than 20 lakh electorate exercised their franchise till noon on Saturday in the polling for elections to the 60-member Tripura Assembly. 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.

Elections to the 60-member Assembly in Tripura began on Saturday morning with the Left Front, which has been in power since 1978 save for a short spell in 1988, contesting for the first time without ally Forward Bloc, which has quit the coalition. Security was stiff with four IAF helicopters in the air surveying hilly, remote and insurgency prone areas to monitor the movement of rebels. "We have taken all possible measures to make the elections free and fair," Chief Electoral Officer G S G Ayyanger said.

Polling, which began at 7 am is being conducted with specially modified electronic voting machines provided by the Election Commission of India in the state, he said. About 16,000 election officials escorted by security forces were deployed at polling stations. Each election official had a life insurance cover of Rs 2,00,000, he said.

A record number of 60,000 security personnel, mostly paramilitary forces, including the Indo-Tibetan Border Police, Border Security Force and Central Reserve Police Force were deployed. A total of 108 polling stations had been identified as 'very vulnerable' with two sections of Central paramilitary deployed. Of the 2,372 polling stations, 550 booths were identified as vulnerable. The ruling CPI-M-led Left Front is locked in direct contest with the opposition Congress-Indigenous Nationalist Party of Tripura alliance.

Altogether 313 candidates, including 28 women aspirants, were in the fray with 20,3,5877 voters expected to exercise their franchise. The CPI-M-led Left Front, which has won the elections five times since 1978 except in 1988, suffered a serious setback with Forward Bloc quitting the coalition on differences over seat sharing. CPI-M has put up 56 candidates, while its two remaining allies - Revolutionary Socialist Party and CPI - would contest in two seats each.

The Tripura unit of FB, which quit the Front on January 25 over seat sharing for the assembly polls, was contesting 11 seats. The opposition Congress was contesting in 48 seats and its two allies - INPT and People's Democratic Socialist Party - were contesting in 11 and one seats respectively. The Bharatiya Janata Party has fielded 49 candidates allotting 11 seats to its new electoral partner United Democratic Front.

All round development and establishment of peace by containing militancy were the main poll planks of the Left Front. The Congress during its campaign highlighted alleged corruption, uneven development and misuse of Central funds. The national leaders of all political parties, including Prime Minister Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, BJP leaders Rajnath Singh and Murli Manohar Joshi and CPI-M general secretary Prakash Karat took part in the month-long campaign.

Source : PTI