Agartala, June 23: By-elections to four assembly seats in Tripura began at 7 am on Thursday amid tight security arrangements, an election official said.
Polling to the Agartala, Town Bardowali, Surma, and Jubarajnagar seats is taking place in 221 booths and will continue until 5 PM.
A total of 25 companies of central forces, apart from Tripura State Rifles (TSR) have been deployed.
As many as 1,89,032 voters are eligible to exercise their franchise to decide the electoral fate of 25 candidates in the fray.
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The by-elections in Agartala and Town Bardowali constituencies were necessitated after Sudip Roy Barman and Asish Saha quit as BJP MLAs and joined the Congress in February.
Surma seat in the Dhalai district fell vacant after BJP legislator, Asish Das, was disqualified by Speaker Ratan Chakraborty and a by-poll to Jubarajnagar was necessitated following the death of sitting CPI (M) MLA Ramendra Chandra Debnath.
Chief Minister Manik Saha, who is not a member of the assembly, is contesting from the Town Bardowali constituency against Congress nominee Asish Saha.
Trinamul Congress and Left Front have fielded candidates in all four seats. The votes will be counted on June 26.
