New Delhi: Tripura Chief Minister Dr. Manik Saha on Thursday cast his vote in Agartala for the ongoing polls in the state. Saha is BJP's candidate from the Town Bordowali seat. The CM interacted with the media after casting vote and urged people to vote in large numbers. He said, "It feels good. I urge all voters to cast their vote."
Saha expressed confidence in winning the polls and said, "I offered prayers in the morning and prayed for peaceful voting everywhere. You can see people have come out to vote. I am confident that BJP will definitely form the government here."
The CM also said that he wants peaceful voting across the state. Talking about the challenge before him, Saha said that it is the 'unholy' alliance of Congress and the Left which must maintain peace for the smooth conduct of polls.
"We want peaceful voting. People ask me what is the challenge before me. The challenge is that the rivals (Congress-Left) that have come together in an unholy alliance should maintain peace," ANI quoted the CM as saying.
PM Modi, HM Shah Urge People To Vote
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Minister Amit Shah urged the people of Tripura to "vote in record numbers and strengthen the festival of democracy." PM Modi stressed on the youth to come out and exercise their franchise. "Urging the people of Tripura to vote in record numbers and strengthen the festival of democracy. I specially call upon the youth to exercise their franchise," tweeted PM Modi.
Union Minister Amit Shah also urged the voters to cast their vote and "ensure that a development-oriented government is formed and the era of peace and progress that has already started continues smoothly."
Voting In Tripura
Voting for the 60-member assembly in Tripura has begun and the fate of 259 candidates will be locked in the polling machines on Thursday.
According to Election Commission, over 28.14 lakh electorates of which 14,15,233 are male voters, 13,99,289 are woman voters and 62 are of the third gender, are eligible to cast their franchise in the elections, reported ANI.
Tight security arrangements have been made to ensure free and fair polls in the state. ANI report mentioned that the state has 97 all-women-managed police stations. It has 94,815 voters in the 18-19 age group and 6,21,505 in the 22-29 age group. The highest number of voters are in the 40-59 age group at 9,81,089.
A total of 3,337 polling stations have been set up in the state for the smooth conduct of the voting. Of these, 1,100 booths have been identified as sensitive and 28 as critical, reported PTI citing Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Gitte Kirankumar Dinakarrao.