AGARTALA, Feb 24 (TIWN): Village committee election which began from Wednesday morning 8AM under tight security recorded 58 percent votes till 12PM.

Talking to TIWN correspondent on Wednesday Deputy Election Commissioner Tamal Majumder said that the so far the voting record stands at 58 percent till 12PM and it is expected that the turnover will rise higher with the progress of the day.

He further said that there is no report of any untoward incident from any polling booth and the vote cast in underway peacefully.

It is to be mentioned here that till 10AM the vote percentage was at 20 percent and by 12PM it went upto 58 percent.

Polling was supposed to be held for 587 village committees in TTAADC areas but as the ruling Left parties have already won in 59 VCs; so elections is held for 3,695 seats of 528 VCs.

However, the sources from different polling station said that rain has hampered the polling spirit among the voters. Rigging is also alleged from different polling stations.

Reports indicate the elections as one-sided battle for the CPM as the opposition parties could not field candidates in maximum constituencies in the VCs.

Elections for the 4,597 seats began amid tight security. Of the total seats, 4,018 are reserved for tribals, 180 for people from Scheduled Castes and 2,005 for women."Instead of Electronic Voting Machines, ballot boxes are used for the polls. 

It is to be mentioned here that among the total seats the Left Front won 902 seats of 59 village committees without any contest.

Now, the elections are held in 3,695 seats on Wednesday. For the elections, a total of 1262 polling stations have been set up.

A total of 6, 45,840 voters would exercise their franchise in the elections. Of the total, 3, 26,931 are male whereas the rest 3, 18,909 are female voters.

Multi-layered security blanket has been thrown over tribal dominated and interior areas of Tripura for the elections on Wednesday in 528 of the 587 village committees under the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC).

The state government has asked the Border Security Force (BSF) to maintain maximum vigil along the India-Bangladesh border to foil any intrusion attempt from across the border.

 Multi-layered security blanket has been thrown over tribal dominated and interior areas of Tripura for the elections. The state government has asked the Border Security Force (BSF) to maintain maximum vigil along the India-Bangladesh border to halt any intrusion attempt from across the border.