Agartala:
Tripura is underway amidst tight security to elect members to the 60-seat Tripura Assembly. Chief Electoral Officer Ashutosh Jindal said 30 per cent votes had been cast by 10 am and a huge turnout was expected.
Voters began queuing up in high numbers at the polling booths since 7 am. The tempo was expected to increase as the day progresses.
"I expect a huge turnout by the time polling ends at 4 pm. Tripura recorded 93 per cent polling in the last elections in 2008," Mr Jindal said.
The elections are straight contest between the ruling Left Front and the Congress. The Left Front is looking to guard the last communist bastion in the country after its ouster from West Bengal and Kerala.
The Congress is hoping that anti-incumbency will work to its advantage as the Left has been in power for the last 20 years. Tripura Chief Minister and CPM politburo member Manik Sarkar has been holding the top post for the last 15 years.
An election official said 40,000 paramilitary and other security personnel had been put on duty in anticipation of disruptions by separatist outfits.
"The Election Commission has also deployed specially modified electronic voting machines in all the 3,041 polling stations to check malpractices," the official said.
The Left Front is contesting all 60 seats. The Congress has fielded candidates in 48 seats and its alliance partner, the Indigenous Nationalist Party of Tripura, in 11 seats. Another Congress ally, the National Council of Tripura, is contesting one seat.
The BJP is trying to get a toehold in Tripura and has fielded 50 candidates.
In all, 249 candidates are in the fray. The key leaders among them are Chief Minister Manik Sarkar, his 11 cabinet colleagues, former chief minister and senior Congress leader Samir Ranjan Burman, his son and state Congress president Sudip Roy Barman, Opposition leader Ratan Lal Nath and Indigenous Nationalist Party of Tripura president Bijoy Kumar Hrangkhawl.
In the last elections, the Left crushed the Congress, winning 49 seats.