688 nomination papers filed for Tripura polls, scrutiny today

The Left Front which has been in power in Tripura since 1998 faces an aggressive BJP in what is shaping up as one of the most keenly contested assemble polls in the state.

Nominations for elections to the 60-member Tripura assembly closed on Wednesday with 320 candidates filing a total of 688 nominations for the polls to be held on February 18, said an official of the state Election Commission.

A tailor stitches CPI(M) party flags at a workshop, ahead of Tripura assembly election, in Agartala on Friday.(PTI)

Filing of nominations began on January 24.

The nomination papers of the candidates will be scrutinized on Thursday (Feb 1). The last date for withdrawal of nomination papers is February 3.

“A total 320 candidates from 16 different registered political parties filed nominations in the stipulated time. We received nominations from 185 candidates on the last day which was the highest for any day,” Additional Chief Electoral Officer Debasish Modak said late Wednesday night.

While most of the ruling Left Front candidates filed nominations before the last date, the BJP and the Congress completed the exercise over the last two days.

The Election Commission of India has fixed time-frame for each political party to air their election campaign through radio and television on national broadcasters like All India Radio and Doordarshan.

The political parties will be allowed to air their campaign from February 7 till February 15.

The CPI(M) has been allotted 218 minutes to air their campaign on Doordarshan and All India Radio each. The Congress gets 176 minutes of air time it is 51 minutes for the BJP and 45 minutes for the Trinamool Congress.

Other local parties were also given fixed time to air their respective campaigns.

An electorate of 25, 69,216 are set to exercise their franchise at 3214 polling stations in the elections.

Of total voters, the number of female voters is 12, 65,785.

The election results will be declared on March 3.

The entire elections process need to be completed by March 5. The five-year tenure of the state Assembly ends on March 14.