Agartala, Sept 05: Voting for the by-elections in Tripura’s Dhanpur and Boxanagar Assembly constituencies commenced smoothly at 110 polling stations in the Sepahijala district. These by-elections were necessitated by the demise of CPI(M) MLA Samsul Haque from Boxanagar and the resignation of Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Pratima Bhoumik, who had won with a BJP ticket from Dhanpur.
The voting process began at 7 am across 59 booths in the Dhanpur Assembly constituency and 51 in Boxanagar, scheduled to continue until 4 pm. According to an official from the Chief Electoral Officer’s office, the voting started at nearly all polling centers without any issues, and the process was peaceful as per the latest reports.
The major contenders in these by-elections are the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the opposition CPI(M), as both the Congress and TIPRA Motha, the main Opposition party in the Tripura Assembly, decided not to participate.
While the Congress and Motha refrained from fielding candidates, they did not officially support the Left candidates. However, they made it clear that they were not in favor of the BJP. Congress urged its supporters to vote for the INDIA alliance, which includes the CPI(M), while Motha encouraged its followers to vote according to their conscience.
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Approximately 93,234 eligible voters can cast their votes in these by-polls, with 43,087 in Boxanagar and 50,147 in Dhanpur. Among them are 160 service voters and 1,217 citizens aged above 80, who can vote from their homes using postal ballots.
Tripura Chief Electoral Officer Puneet Agrawal had earlier stated that the law and order situation had been assessed with the assistance of the police, Border Security Force (BSF), and other agencies to identify sensitive areas. Central forces were deployed to ensure the security of polling booths.
Out of the 59 polling stations in Dhanpur, nine were labeled as ‘critical,’ and 19 were marked as ‘vulnerable’ based on previous years’ records. In Boxanagar, which has 51 polling stations, nine were categorized as ‘critical,’ and 15 were labeled ‘vulnerable.’
Although the specific details of polling station vulnerabilities were not disclosed, Agrawal stated that prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) were issued in some areas. Measures were also implemented to prevent infiltration and unauthorized entry from Bangladesh, with which the state shares an 856 km border on three sides.
Additionally, the Election Commission deployed Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) personnel for area domination and security management. Central forces were stationed at all polling stations during the voting process.
A total of 15 CAPF companies were deployed for the bypoll process, including regular area domination and patrolling to prevent untoward incidents and boost voter confidence, according to officials.
