New Delhi (TIP)- The tentative voter turnout for the 60-member Tripura Assembly today was recorded at 81% with the final figures to be known only by Friday, February 17, the Election Commission of India (ECI) said.

The polling passed off “largely violence-free”, the commission said, adding that eligible Bru migrant voters, displaced from Mizoram 26 years ago due to ethnic trouble, were able to exercise their franchise for the first time in the state. Poll panel officials said no major complaints had been received so far by the ECI. “There have been no reports of any major violence or attack on candidates or (polling) agents or intimidation of voters. As against 168 repolls in the state in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, today’s poll for 60 Assembly seats in Tripura has been largely peaceful with no (demand for) repoll reported so far,” the poll panel said in a statement.

“Minor instances” of violence which were reported were promptly looked into by local officials,” the panel added. “For the first time in many years, Bru migrant voters were able to exercise their franchise. Special efforts were made to enrol them. Some 14,055 eligible Brus were enrolled in the state in 12 locations. They cast their votes at these locations spread across four districts,” it said. Meanwhile, the ECI said it had seized drugs, cash, and freebies worth over Rs 147 crore in Tripura, Nagaland and Meghalaya.

According to officials, the seized items included Rs 14 crore in cash, foreign liquor valued at over Rs 9 crore and drugs worth Rs 85.76 crore. The highest seizures were made in Meghalaya at over Rs 63 crore, followed by Tripura (Rs 44.67 crore) and Nagaland (Rs 39.19 crore). Nagaland and Meghalaya will go to the polls on February 27.

The poll panel said the seizures in the three states marked a significant increase as compared to 2018 polls.

For more than 30 years, Tripura was ruled by the CPM till the upset in 2018, when the BJP won 36 of the 60 seats in a state where it practically had no presence. Though the score pushed the BJP well above the majority mark of 31, it still formed alliance with regional IPFT (Indigenous Progressive Front of Tripura) – which got eight seats — as insurance against any defection by its MLAs.

The CPM, which ruled Tripura for 35 years, has joined forces with the Congress this time, and its campaign is being led by its four-time Chief Minister Manik Sarkar. The Left Front will contest 47 of the state’s 60 seats, leaving just 13 seats for the Congress.

While the CPM won 16 seats in 2018, the Congress – main opposition in the previous assembly — drew a blank. The CPM is hoping that their alliance will help add votes in around 13 seats. But the alliance has raised eyebrows among the Kerala units of both parties where they have been sworn enemies for decades.

The Tipra Motha – the new party formed by former royal Pradyot Kishore Debbarma with a core demand of Greater Tipraland — might queer the pitch for the BJP. While the BJP has the local party IPFT in its corner, its hold on some seats have loosened over the last five years. In 2021, IPFT was wiped out in the Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council polls and had to accept only five seats to contest in this election.

The BJP had initially attempted to build a rapport with the Tipra Motha, but its overtures were met with rebuff. After the BJP declared that it would not allow any division of Tripura, the Tipra Motha also hardened its stand, flinging Union minister Amit Shah‘s allegation of its being the “B Team of CPM-Congress” back at the BJP.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, the BJP’s pointsperson in the northeast, has predicted a hugely improved performance by the party in all three northeastern states that are going to polls in this round. Elections are due in Meghalaya and Nagaland on February 27. Counting of votes will be held on March 2.