Amarpur

Re-polling is on today, Saturday, at three seats in the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council Village Committee elections. Voting started at 7 am and runs till 4 pm at the set polling stations.

Here are the three seats in scope:

• Seat No. 3 and 4 of Gamaria Village Committee under Matabari RD Block
• Seat No. 4 of Paharpur Village Committee under Amarpur RD Block

All three seats are ready. Preparations are already complete.

BJP candidate switches sides

One change has everyone talking. Dayabati Reang, the BJP candidate from Seat No. 3 of Ward No. 2 of Gamaria Village Committee, reportedly joined Tipra Motha on Thursday evening. She made the switch even after Election Commission had announced the re-poll over voting-related incidents.

Here is the twist. Her name is still on the ballot paper as the BJP nominee. Her political association has changed though. I find that detail hard to ignore, and so do political observers tracking the tribal areas closely.

The shift has sparked debate about BJP's organisational hold in tribal belts. It also raises questions about what comes next for the BJP and Tipra Motha alliance.

Village Committee elections in Tripura had 81.21 per cent voter turnout on September 28. State Election Commissioner P K Chakravarti confirmed the figure. The Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council polls covered 587 Village Committees across the state.

The State Election Commission ordered re-polling on October 3 in three seats across two constituencies and two polling stations. The re-poll covers seat 3 and 4 of constituency number 2 in Gamaria Village Committee under Matabari RD Block. It also covers seat 4 of constituency number 4 in Paharpur Village Committee under Amarpur RD Block.

Why Re-polling Was Ordered

Chakravarti said the Gamaria re-poll was ordered after reports showed booth capturing and tampering with ballot boxes and papers. In Paharpur, the problem was a mismatch in symbol allotment and printing errors.

Over 9.61 lakh eligible voters took part in these elections. 1,644 candidates were elected without any contest. In the remaining seats, 8,176 candidates from different parties competed for 2,956 seats across 1,768 constituencies. Voting was held at 1,095 polling stations.

Early turnout figures from returning officers showed around 79 per cent after 4 pm on polling day. Once officials counted voters waiting in queues across 28 blocks and added 6,628 election duty votes, the final number went up to 81.21 per cent.

On complaints, Chakravarti said the commission got eight complaints from political parties. Most were about polling agents being stopped from doing their job. A Tipra Motha delegation also raised the issue of firing and injuries at Warengbari SB School during polls. Police and the Home Department have taken up the matter.

Counting of votes is scheduled for October 5 from 8 am at designated centres in the 44 blocks. Re-polling will start at 7 am on October 3.