1st Phase LS Polls on Friday : 15 NE seats including West Tripura to witness multi-corner contest
A multi cornered contest will be witnessed in 15 Lok Sabha seats in the eight northeastern states including Tripura as the first phase of the 7-phase parliamentary elections is held on Friday.
The Election Commission has made elaborate arrangements and deployed a large number of Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) personnel along with thousands of state forces for the first phase of the polls in 15 out of the total 25 parliamentary constituencies in the eight northeastern states.
Coping with natural challenges, election and security officials moved to their polling stations in remote areas through different modes including on foot in Mizoram, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya,and Nagaland two to three days ago. A majority of the polling officials accompanied by security personnel left for their stipulated polling stations on Thursday.
In Friday’s elections, the electoral fate of two Union ministers, two state Congress chiefs, three Rajya Sabha members and prominent leaders would be decided.
They include Union Ministers Kiren Rijiju (Arunachal West) and Sarbananda Sonowal (Dibrugarh), Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi (Jorhat), BJP Rajya Sabha members Biplab Kumar Deb (Tripura West), Kamakhya Prasad Tasa (Kaziranga), Mizo National Front Rajya Sabha member K. Vanlalvena (Mizoram), Arunachal Pradesh Congress president Nabam Tuki (Arunachal West) and his Tripura counterpart Asish Kumar Saha (Tripura West).
On Friday, elections will be held in one of the two seats in Tripura, five seats in Assam, two each in Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Manipur (fully in Inner Manipur seat and partly in Outer Manipur), and the sole seats in Nagaland, Mizoram and Sikkim.
In Tripura, of the state's two Lok Sabha seats, election will be held in Tripura West constituency on Friday and altogether nine candidates are trying their electoral fortunes.
In the politically important Tripura West seat, the main contest is expected between former Tripura Chief Minister and BJP candidate Biplab Kumar Deb, and state unit Congress president Asish Kumar Saha, of the INDIA bloc.
The by-election to the Ramnagar Assembly seat will also be held on Friday. The seat fell vacant after the demise of sitting BJP MLA Surajit Datta on December 28 last year.
Two candidates, one each of the BJP and the CPI-M, are trying their electoral fortunes in the Ramnagar Assembly by-poll.
In Manipur, due to the nearly year-long ethnic violence between the Meitei and Kuki-Zomi communities, unprecedented security measures have been put in place across the state to prevent any untoward incident before and during the voting.
Given the ethnic strife, campaigning for the two Lok Sabha seats – Inner Manipur and Outer Manipur -- was significantly subdued this time.
Political parties and the candidates did not organise any public meeting -- something that is unprecedented in the 75-year electoral history of the northeastern state.
Only on April 15, Union Home Minister and senior BJP leader Amit Shah addressed an election rally in Imphal in support of the party candidates.
A total of 10 candidates -- six in Inner Manipur and four in Outer Manipur -- are contesting the two Lok Sabha seats. The main contest is expected between BJP-Naga People's Front and the INDIA bloc.
Over 24,500 eligible voters, sheltered in relief camps due to the ethnic violence, would exercise their franchise at 94 special polling stations set up in the relief camps in 10 of the state's 16 districts.
In Nagaland, unlike 2019, the state’s lone Lok Sabha seat is set to witness a triangular contest between candidates of the ruling Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP), the Congress, and an Independent.
In Mizoram, six candidates including a woman are contesting for the lone parliamentary seat in the state.
The lone female nominee Rita Malsawmi, a singer and lyricist, was fielded by the Mizoram People's Conference while one Independent candidate is vying for the Mizoram Lok Sabha seat reserved for the tribals.
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(Tripura, Tripura News)