Tripura Assembly Elections 2023 Live Updates: CM Manik Saha casts vote in Agartala, urges first-time voters to exercise their franchise

Tripura chief minister Manik Saha performed a puja and visited temples before heading to the polling station to cast his vote in Agartala's Tulshibati Higher Secondary School. The chief minister has urged first-time voters to exercise their franchise.

There is huge enthusiasm among the voters as many have been queuing up at polling stations right from 5.30 am on February 16.

As per reports, former chief minister of Tripura and CPI(M) leader Manik Sarkar is expected to cast his vote between 10-10.30 am, while Tripura royal scion and TIPRA Motha chairman Pradyot Manikya Debbarma is expected to cast his vote at 10 am. 

Over 28.14 lakh voters are eligible to exercise their franchise, with 14,15,233 male voters, 13,99,289 female voters, and 62 third-party voters among them, according to the Election Commission. At 3,337 polling places, the vote is already being counted.

For the elections, adequate security measures have been put in place. There are 97 police stations in the state that are all run by women. There are 94,815 18- to 19-year-old voters and 6,21,505 22- to 29-year-old voters. With 9,81,089 registered voters, the 40-59 age group casts the most votes.

A triangular election is possible because the Congress and CPI(M), longtime rivals, formed a pre-poll alliance to defeat the BJP, while the BJP, hoping to keep its power, is running with the Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT), and the Tipra Motha, a powerful regional party founded in 2021 by Pradyot Kishore Debbarma and regarded as a kingmaker in the event of a hung assembly, emerged as an influential However, the Trinamool Congress has also fielded candidates for a number of seats.

Also read : Tripura Assembly Elections 2023: Union Home Minister Amit Shah urges people to cast their vote for peace and development