Tripura set for assembly polls Thursday

Agartala: The country's lone Left-ruled state Tripura goes for assembly polls Thursday with the ruling CPI-M expected to face a challenge from the opposition Congress, which is out of power in the state for the last 20 years.

In the wake of threats from separatist outfits, a record 40,000 para-military and other security personnel have been deployed along with two air surveillance teams to conduct the polls in a free and fair manner in the northeastern state. Chief Minister Manik Sarkar said: "Allround development and establishment of peace by controlling four and a half decades old terrorism are our main poll plank."

"The Congress failed to cooperate on any development issues and has now forged an alliance with the Indigenous Nationalist Party of Tripura (INPT) that is nothing but a mask of insurgents," he told IANS. Polling for the 60-member assembly will begin at 7 a.m. Thursday. In all, 23,55,446 people, about half of them women and 53,580 first timers, are eligible to vote to decide the fate of the 249 candidates in the fray. Of the 60 seats, 20 are reserved for tribals and 10 for the Scheduled Castes.

"All preparations are almost complete for the polls," Tripura's Chief Electoral Officer Ashutosh Jindal told IANS.