Manik Saha leading Bardowali assembly seat with 17,181 votes in Tripura Bypolls

|HT|

Tripura chief minister and BJP candidate Manik Saha is leading from Town Bardowali assembly constituency with 17,181 votes in the by-elections, counting of which is underway on Sunday. The Congress is trailing with 11,077 votes from Bardowali. Counting of votes is also underway for the by-elections to three other assembly seats in Tripura amid tight security.

The counting began at 8 am for the bypolls to the Agartala, Town Bardowali, Surma and Jubarajnagar seats, held on June 23.

The votes were being counted across three centres.

Over 78 per cent of the total 1,89,032 people had cast their votes in the elections. Twenty-two candidates are in the fray.

Saha, who is not a member of the assembly, is contesting from the Town Bardowali assembly constituency. He has to win this election to continue as the chief minister.

In the Agartala seat, Sudip Roy Barman, who had resigned as a BJP MLA and joined the Congress in February, is pitted against BJP candidate Ashok Saha. In Agartala, the Congress is leading with 17,431 votes, while the ruling BJP has secured 14,268 votes so far.

Surma and Jubarajnagar assembly constituencies witnessed a multi-corner electoral fight with all major political parties - BJP, Congress, Left Front, TMC and Tipra Motha fielding candidates.

In Jubarajnagar seat, the BJP is leading with 18,381 votes, while the Congress has bagged 1,418 and the CPM secured 1,4061 votes so far.

As a precautionary measure, prohibitory orders have been imposed in the areas where the by-election was held. Police said they are maintaining a close vigil on the situation.

(Except for the headline and the pictorial description, this story has not been edited by THE DEN staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)