Tripura records 78.56% voting

AGARTALA: 78.56 per cent of over 25.73 lakh voters exercised their franchise for the Assembly polls today in Tripura, where the BJP is trying to dislodge the Left Front after an unbroken 25-year stint in power, officials said.
The polling for 59 seats of the 60-member Assembly was peaceful with thousands of central paramilitary forces fanning across the northeastern state.
There were reports of malfunctioning of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) at some polling stations which were rectified.
Polling could not be held in the Charilam constituency due to the death of CPI(M) candidate Ramendra Narayan Deb Barma last week. The constituency will go to polls on March 12.
The Election Commission said in New Delhi the updated polling percentage was complied from 41 of the 59 constituencies.
In the last Assembly elections, the voter turnout was recorded at 91.82 per cent, while in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, it was 84.32 per cent, Deputy Election Commissioner Sudip Jain told reporters in the national capital.
He said two crude bombs were detected and disposed of by security personnel.
The voter turnout is likely to rise as queues were seen at polling stations even at 9 pm. The voting was to conclude at 4 pm.
Under the electoral laws, voters standing in queue at the scheduled time for voting to conclude are allowed to exercise their franchise.
Additional CEO Tapas Roy said in Agartala initially there were problems with several EVM machines which were fixed.
Earlier in the day, Chief Electoral Officer Sriram Taranikanti had said voting was delayed in some polling booths of West Tripura, Khowai and Unakoti districts as officials could not properly connect the EVMs. Technicians were rushed in to these placed and EVMs set right.