Agartala: The percentage of voting in the first four hours in the West Tripura parliamentary constituency was recorded at 34.6 percent, while in the Ramnagar by-poll, it was 27.62 percent, the ECI bulletin said.
Voting was scheduled to begin at 7 am, but it was delayed at several polling stations due to technical snag in the EVMs.
Besides webcasting facilities and close camera surveillance, the opposition INDI alliance candidate Ashish Kumar Saha alleged that polling agents were forcefully evicted from a few polling stations by BJP goons.
However, casting his vote at the Maharani Tulsibati Girls HS School of the city, Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha asked the Election Commission to look into the allegations and ensure that such instances shouldn’t happen.
He urged the people to come out in large numbers and cast a vote to contribute to the ongoing mission of Viksit Bharat.
He requested that ECI and all political parties ensure free, fair, and peaceful elections.
Polling began with high security amid bad weather across 1685 stations, including 99 exclusively managed by women in the West Tripura parliamentary constituency, where over 14.61 lakh electorates comprising 7.33 lakh males and 7.28 lakh females will decide the fate of as many as nine candidates.