Agartala, September 28: Polling for the long-awaited Village Committee elections in the hill areas of North Tripura was underway peacefully on Monday, with officials reporting around 60 per cent voter turnout by noon.
Voting began at 7 am in Balichhara ADC Village under Kalachhara Block, where police and Tripura State Rifles personnel were deployed outside polling stations as part of security arrangements.
Returning Officer Sumit Kumar Das said polling had remained peaceful and no untoward incident had been reported till midday, with voters turning up in significant numbers.
The elections are being held after nearly a decade and have drawn candidates from the BJP, CPI(M), Congress, Tipra Motha and CPI(ML), besides independents.
In Balichhara ADC Village, 25 candidates are contesting seven seats. The Balichhara Higher Basic School has been designated as a polling centre with three booths.
A total of 1,140 voters are registered at the centre, including 588 men and 552 women.
Voters were seen queuing at polling stations to cast their ballots as officials and security personnel oversaw the polling process. Voting is being conducted through ballot papers in the Village Committee elections.
The State Election Commission has reported an overall turnout of around 60 per cent by the afternoon, with polling proceeding peacefully across the tribal areas. SEC Secretary Anurag Sen said the commission had not received reports of any untoward incident and that voters were turning out enthusiastically at polling locations.
The elections are being held for 2,950 contested seats across 587 Village Committees, with 8,176 candidates in the fray. A total of 1,644 seats had already been filled unopposed before polling day.
The polling follows a gap of about a decade. The previous Village Committee elections were held in 2016, while the tenure of the elected committees ended in March 2021. The subsequent elections were delayed amid the COVID-19 pandemic and legal complications.
The State Election Commission has deployed central forces along with Tripura Police and TSR personnel at polling stations and sensitive locations to facilitate peaceful voting. Polling is scheduled to continue through the afternoon.
The Village Committees form an important component of grassroots governance in the areas covered by the TTAADC, and Monday's election marks the return of elected village-level bodies after the prolonged gap.
