Tripura Lok Sabha Elections 2024: Polling underway peacefully, 69.48 per cent voter turnout recorded till 3 pm

In the second phase of Lok Sabha polls, seven seats in the northeast region will be contested, including five in Assam, one in Tripura, and a portion of one seat in Manipur.

In Assam, 77,09,276 voters will decide the fate of 61 candidates for the seats of Diphu, Silchar, Karimganj, Nagaon, and Darrang-Udalguri, with voting taking place in 9,133 polling stations. Muslim voters, particularly dominant in Nagaon and Karimganj, are expected to play a crucial role.

Notably, in the 2019 elections, the BJP won four of these seats, while the Congress won Nagaon.
In Nagaon, the incumbent Congress MP Pradyut Bordoloi will face BJP’s Suresh Bora, a former Congress leader who joined the BJP last year. Aminul Islam of the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), the current MLA from Dhing, is also a significant candidate. Darrang-Udalguri has five candidates, including the current BJP MP Dilip Saikia. The Silchar seat has eight candidates, while Diphu has five. In Karimganj, there are 24 candidates contesting.

The East Tripura constituency in Tripura will undergo polling in the second phase. A total of 1,664 polling stations have been set up, including a new one in South Tripura for Bru migrants to vote. The election features nine candidates. The primary contest is between the ruling BJP candidate Kriti Devi Debbarma and INDIA alliance candidate and former CPIM MLA Rajendra Reang. Notably, Kriti Devi Debbarma is the elder sister of TIPRA Motha party founder Pradyot Kishore Manikya Debbarma.

Chief Electoral Officer of Tripura Puneet Agarwal urged voters to vote peacefully. The East Tripura constituency’s returning officer Saju Vaheed A said that strict security arrangements have been made for peacefully conducting polls including closure of the Indo-Bangla international border and strict vigilance at all naka points to avoid any kind of unwanted incident..