The Hindu : Front Page : Tripura polls today

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Saturday, Feb 23, 2008
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Tripura polls today

Sushanta Talukdar

— Photo: Arunangsu Roy Chowdhury

On their toes: Border Security Force personnel on vigil at the India-Bangladesh border near Agartala on Friday on the eve of elections to the Tripura Assembly.

Guwahati: Tripura is going to the polls on Saturday to elect a new 60-member Assembly, amid tight security measures. This follows the abduction of four CPI(M) activists by suspected militants of the National Liberation Front of Tripura.

Polling teams escorted by heavily armed paramilitary forces started leaving for booths. This is the first time that photo electoral rolls are being used in the State.

Prominent among those in the fray are Chief Minister Manik Sarkar, Information Minster Anil Sarkar, the PCC president and former chief Minister, Samir Ranjan Barman, the former Chief Minister and Congress leader, Sudhir Ranjan Mazumdar, and the former underground leader, Bijoy Kumar Hrangkhal of the Indigenous Nationalist Party of Twipra (INPT).

The CPI(M) has put up 56 candidates, while its two ruling Left Front allies — the CPI and the RSP — are fielding candidates in two constituencies each. The Congress has put up candidates for 48 seats, while its allies — the INPT and the Party for Democratic Socialism — are contesting 12 seats in all.

In 2003, the Left Front won 41 seats, the Congress 13 and its ally INPT six.

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