Agartala, July 27: Voting for gram panchayats polls in northeastern state of Tripura is currently underway amid tight security. The polling for the three-tier Panchayat in Tripura began at 7 am on Saturday and will end at 4 pm. The polls to 833 seats of Village Panchayats, 82 of Panchayat Samiti and 79 seats of Zilla Parisad are being held across 1848 polling stations across the state. The counting of votes will be held on July 31. Reports inform that paper ballots will be used in the Panchayat election. Tripura Panchayat Elections to Be Held On July 27: State Election Commissioner Kameswara Rao.

In all, 2,327 candidates are contesting the elections to be held in 1,848 polling stations in 31 blocks under eight districts. Reports inform that the Panchayat elections on Saturday will be held in 6,646 seats of 591 gram panchayats (6,111 seats), 35 panchayat samitis (419 seats) and eight zilla parishads (116 seats). This means, polling will be held only 994 of the total of 6,646 seats as the ruling BJP has already won 85 per cent seats unopposed, officials said on Friday. Tripura Panchayat Bypolls 2018: BJP Wins 96 Per Cent Seats Unopposed, Left Wiped Out. 

According to details by Tripura State Election Commission (SEC), 8,54,900 of the total 12,03,070 electors would exercise their franchise. According to a report by IANS, over 9,500 government employees and senior officials have been put on duty to conduct the polling. Counting of votes will take place on July 31.

In Tripura, the opposition parties including the Congress and the CPI(M) have alleged that the ruling BJP has applied “terror tactics” to prevent them from fielding candidates. A report by IANS states that leaders of the CPI-M-led Left Front and the Congress have separately alleged that due to "large scale intimidation by BJP workers, there is no conducive situation to hold the panchayat polls" and so their candidates have failed to submit nominations in thousands of seats.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 27, 2019 01:45 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).