Tripura Assembly Election 2023, Voting Tomorrow: A three-cornered high voltage election campaign that saw the ruling BJP face off with the Left-Congress alliance on the one hand and Tipra Motha on the other, will culminate on Thursday when the counting of votes begins in the north-eastern state at 8 AM.
Polling for the 60-member Tripura Assembly took place on February 16 to decide the fate of 259 candidates in fray, of whom 20 are women.
The BJP contested 55 assembly seats, its ally IPFT fielded candidates in six constituencies, while there was a friendly fight in one seat. The CPI(M) is contesting 47 seats and the Congress is fighting in 13 constituencies.
Former royal scion Pradyot Kishore Manikya Debbarma, who is leading the Tipra Motha party, contested in 42 Assembly constituencies, and its campaigning has been focused on the Greater Tipraland statehood demand.
The Trinamool Congress has fielded nominees in 28 constituencies and there are 58 independent aspirants too.
Most exit polls have predicted a comfortable win for the BJP, which looks set to return to power for the second consecutive term.
According to the India Today-MyAxis exit poll, the BJP-IPFT coalition could get 36-45 seats in the 60-member assembly, while the ETG-Times Now poll indicated that BJP would remain the largest party predicting 24 seats.
The ZeeNews-Matrize exit poll also predicted a comfortable win for the BJP and its ally, predicting 29-36 seats in Tripura for the saffron party, 13-21 seats for the Left-Congress combine, 11-16 seats for the Tipra party, and 0-3 seats for Others.
The state recorded a voter turnout of 89.90 percent with most seats witnessing a triangular contest among the BJP, Left-Congress alliance and the Tipra Motha. The Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) was also in the fray but failed to make much of an impact, according to the exit polls.