81pc votes polled in Tripura panchayat bye-elections: SEC

Bye-election of three-tier panchayat bodies in Tripura passed off peacefully on Sunday with 81 per cent voters exercising their franchise, officials said.

"The election ended at 4 pm. No untoward incident was reported and 81.03 per cent casting was recorded," a senior official of the state election commission said.

SP of North Tripura district, Bhanupada Chakraborty, however, said five to six miscreants tried to force their way into a polling booth and disrupt the poll process, but were resisted.

Polling was conducted in 132 seats of gram panchayats and seven seats of panchayat samity.

The by-poll became necessary as many elected public representatives resigned after the BJP-IPFT government assumed office in the state on March 3.

Earlier on September 1, State Election Commissioner G Kameshwara Rao announced bye-elections in 3,207 seats of gram panchayats, 161 panchayat samiti seats and 18 seats of zilla parishad.

The BJP emerged victorious in over 96 per cent of the seats where bye-election was announced without contest, as opposition parties failed to submit nomination papers.

"The state government has conducted bye-election within time. Except a few stray incidents, the by-poll was totally peaceful. The CPI(M) tried to disrupt the poll process at Kadamtala in North Tripura. This is testimony of their political bankruptcy," BJP spokesperson Mrinal Kanti Deb said.

The Congress and the CPI(M), on the other hand, accused the BJP of not letting people cast votes.