Tripura West records 15.09% voter turnout till 9 am

Agartala: The Tripura West Lok Sabha constituency recorded a voter turnout of 15.09 per cent during the first two hours of polling on Friday morning, an official said.

Long queues were seen outside polling stations since the morning as people turned up early to beat the heat.

"Till 9 am, 15.90 per cent turnout was recorded in the Tripura West constituency," the official said.

In the by-election to the Ramnagar seat, which was being held simultaneously, a turnout of 12.28 per cent was recorded, he said.

Chief Minister Manik Saha urged the people to join the festival of democracy in strong numbers.

"I especially appeal the women and young voters to exercise their democratic rights in the elections," he posted on Facebook.

Meanwhile, Congress alleged large-scale "rigging" in several places.

"The voting has turned into a farce with BJP-backed goons attacking polling agents of the opposition. We are receiving reports of attacks on our polling agents from different places, including Udaipur, Belonia and Sonamura. The situation is worst in the Ramnagar assembly seat," alleged Congress's Tripura West candidate Asish Kumar Saha, who has been backed by the CPI(M).

"I have spoken to Returning Officer Vishal Kumar and SP Kiran Kumar, and briefed them about the situation on the ground," he said.

The BJP rejected the allegations made by Saha, who is also the state Congress president.

Altogether 14.61 lakh people are eligible to vote in this phase of Lok Sabha polls in Tripura.

Saha has been pitted against BJP's Biplab Kumar Deb, the former CM, in the Tripura West seat.

In the Ramnagar assembly constituency, where 54,669 voters are eligible to vote, BJP has fielded Agartala Mayor Dipak Majumder against former CPI(M) MLA Ratan Das.