68 pc turnout in Tripura till afternoon

Agartala: Polling progressed peacefully in this north-eastern state as 68 per cent electorate cast their ballots till afternoon in the West Tripura parliamentary constituency on Monday.
The fate of 13 candidates, including four from major parties, will be decided.
There has been no report of any violence and intimidation. However, participation of voters in urban areas was marginally less than that in rural counterparts, said an official of Election Commission of India.
Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Ashutosh Jindal said the trend of voting was normal till now and claimed since beginning long queues had been seen in most polling stations of the constituency.
The process got delayed due to malfunctioning of EVMs in Ram Thakur Girls School at Town Pratpagarh, Lal School at Abhoynagar in Agartala, ten polling booths in Sonamura subdivision and in a booth at Sidhai Mohanpur area.
A total of 12,46,794 voters, including 6,12,092 female voters, would push the button on EVMs to decide the fate of 13 aspirants on Monday. However, the voter turn out in traditional tribal belt was low so far.
According to Jindal, of total 1605 polling booths, the 46th booth of 14-Badharghat assembly constituency has only 235 voters, which is the minimum numbers of voters. The office of Autonomous District Council (ADC) in Charilam assembly constituency has maximum number of voters with 1241. (UNI)