GUWAHATI: Tripura recorded the highest voter turnout among the three states from the Northeast which went to the polls on Friday.
Polling for the Lok Sabha elections was held in Tripura East along with Assam’s Silchar, Karimganj, Nagaon, Diphu, Darrang-Udalguri and Manipur’s Outer Manipur seats.
Till 5 pm, Tripura recorded a voter turnout of 79.55%, followed by Manipur (76.06%) and Assam (70.66%).
Barring Nagaon which is held by the Congress, the six other seats are with the NDA – five (Tripura East, Silchar, Karimganj, Diphu and Darrang-Udalguri) with the BJP and one (Outer Manipur) with the Naga People’s Front which is an ally of the BJP. The Outer Manipur seat went to the polls in two phases.
The polls were by and large peaceful. However, there were at least four incidents in Manipur’s Naga-majority Ukhrul district where people damaged electronic voting machines after armed miscreants had allegedly resorted to booth capturing to favour a particular candidate.
Elsewhere in Assam and Tripura, voters boycotted the elections due to varied reasons.
Residents of Chittaranjan Road in Silchar did not cast their votes to draw the attention of the authorities to the problem of artificial floods. Similarly, 767 voters of the Durga Nagar Tea Garden falling under this seat did not turn up as a mark of protest against the government’s failure to build an all-weather road.
In Sonai under Silchar, 710 voters did not go to vote as the nearest polling booth was set up five kilometres away.
Over 1,000 voters from the Sadai Mohan Para area in Tripura boycotted the polls protesting the lack of basic amenities such as roads, electricity and drinking water.
Assam’s minority-based party All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) alleged the Congress attempted to rig the polls in some polling stations falling under the Karimganj seat.
Meanwhile, hundreds of stranded train passengers could not cast their votes as six trains to the Barak Valley were cancelled due to the derailment of a goods train engine. The valley has the Silchar and Karimganj seats.
Voter dies in Assam
A voter died outside a polling booth falling under the Karimganj seat.
Refuting media reports, Hailakandi Assistant Commissioner Simanta Biswas told The New Indian Express that the deceased, Faruk Hussain Laskar (50), was not the polling agent of any political party.
Laskar had collapsed soon after casting his vote and was rushed to a hospital but he was declared dead on arrival. The body was sent to the district hospital for post-mortem.
15 injured in bee attack in Tripura
Some 15 voters were injured on Friday when a swarm of bees attacked them at Barabill area of Tripura’s Khowai district.
They were standing in a queue to cast their votes, officials said.
The injured were admitted to a hospital and later, sent back to their homes following treatment.
