Elections to the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) slated for May 3 is all set to witness multi-corner fight in all constituencies.
All opposition parities including the Congress, the Indigenous Nationalist Party of Tripura (INPT), the BJP and the Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT) were contesting the elections on their own.
A total of 177 candidates were in fray across 28 constituencies of the TTAADC after the last date for withdrawal of nomination papers expired on April 16, Election Commissioner for district council S K Rakesh said here today.
Inspector General of Police (Law and order), Anurag Dhyankar said altogether 13,000 security personnel would be deployed during the polls of which 6,900 were from the Tripura State Rifles (TSR), 4,000 civil police and 21 companies of central paramilitary forces including the CRPF and the BSF.
Rakesh said of the 177 candidates in the fray, 18 were contesting on Trinamool Congress symbol, the BJP has fielded 28 candidates, the ruling CPI(M) was contesting in 25 constituencies, while the INPT has fielded 28 candidates.
Twenty-seven candidates from the IPFT were also in the fray and the Congress was contesting in all 28 seats, he said.
While the highest number of nine candidates would be facing electoral test in Machmara and Karamcherra seats, the Budhjungnagar seat registered five candidates, the lowest.
Of the total polling booths, 79 polling stations have been identified as hyper sensitive, while 360 booths have been marked as sensitive and remaining 632 polling stations were tagged as general category.
A total of 7,58,554 electors, including 3,75,117 women, were eligible to vote. Of the 30 seats, 28 were filled through direct election and two members were nominated by the Governor on the advice of the state government.
For the first time EVMs would be introduced in the tribal council elections.
The TTAADC came into being in January 1982 under the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution and was given more autonomy under the Sixth Schedule in August 1984 to safeguard political, economic and cultural interests of tribals.
The tribals constitute one third of the state's 37 lakh population and the tribal council covers two-thirds of the state's territory of 10,491.69 sq km.
