• Tripura by-polls: Polling underway, 14.66 percent turnout till 9am

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    Tripura by-polls: Polling underway, 14.66 percent turnout till 9am
    Voting is already underway in 221 booths for the seats in Agartala, Town Bardowali, Surma, and Jubarajnagar and will last until 5 PM.

    Digital Desk: In the by-elections for four assembly seats in Tripura on Thursday, 14.66 percent of the 1.89 lakh eligible voters cast their franchise till 9 AM, according to election officials.

    Voting is already underway in 221 booths for the seats in Agartala, Town Bardowali, Surma, and Jubarajnagar and will last until 5 PM.

    Since voting began at 7 AM, no untoward occurrence has been recorded in any of the booths, according to police.

    Arjun Namasudra, a TMC candidate for the Surma assembly seat, lives in Bamancherra in the Dhalai district, and his home was attacked on Wednesday night by unknown assailants.

    Ramesh Yadav, superintendent of police in Dhalai, told PTI that although the candidate was unharmed, miscreants had wrecked his vehicle.

    Subal Bhowmik, the state head of the TMC, claimed that goons backed by the BJP broke into Namasudra's home and attempted to assault a poll worker.
    The Town Bardowali constituency, where Chief Minister Manik Saha is running, had the highest turnout as of 9 a.m. on Thursday, according to Additional Chief Electoral Officer U J Mog.

    Apart from the Tripura State Rifles (TSR), a total of 25 companies of central forces have been deployed to guarantee a peaceful election.

    A total of 1,89,032 voters have the right to cast a ballot to determine which of the 25 candidates running for office will win the election.

    Sudip Roy Barman and Asish Saha left the BJP and joined the Congress in February, forcing the need for by-elections in the Agartala and Town Bardowali constituencies.

    Following Speaker Ratan Chakraborty's disqualification of sitting BJP lawmaker Asish Das and the need for a by-election in Jubarajnagar due to the passing of CPI (M) MLA Ramendra Chandra Debnath, the Surma seat in the Dhalai district became vacant.

    The chief minister, who is not a member of the legislature, is running against Aasish Saha, a candidate for the Congress, in the town of Bardowali district.
    Each of the four seats has a candidate from the Trinamool Congress and the Left Front.

    Notably, the counting of the votes will take place on June 26.