Tripura: The ruling BJP in Tripura was leading in 32 seats, while the opposition Left-Congress alliance was ahead in 17 seats as counting of votes was underway on Thursday for the assembly elections.
The Tipra Motha was leading in 12 seats, while BJP ally IPFT was leading in one seat. An independent candidate was also leading, according to the Election Commission (EC). Individually, the CPI(M) was ahead in 12 seats and the Congress in five seats.
Chief Minister Manik Saha was leading in the Town Bardowali seat over his nearest Congress rival Ashish Kumar Saha by 832 votes. Senior Congress leader Sudip Roy Barman was ahead of BJP's Papia Dutta in the Agartala seat by 5,286 votes.
BJP state president Rajib Bhattacharjee was trailing by 705 votes in the Banamalipur seat as Congress candidate Gopal Roy took a lead. Union Minister Pratma Bhoumik was leading by 136 votes over CPI(M)'s Kaushik Chanda in the Dhanpur seat.
State Congress president Birajit Sinha was ahead in the Kailashahar seat by 7,488 votes over BJP's Moboshar Ali. In the Khayerpur seat, assembly speaker Ratan Chakraborty was leading by 1,663 votes over CPI(M)'s Pabitra Kar. CPI(M) state secretary Jitendra Chowdhury was leading by 118 votes against BJP's incumbent MLA Sankar Roy in the Sabroom constituency.
Counting of votes for the 60 seats began at 8 am amid tight security. The polling was held on February 16. A total of 89.98 per cent of 28.12 lakh voters exercised their franchise.
