AGARTALA, July 18 (TIWN): Following three-tier Panchayat election in Tripura, counting of ballot papers is going on to ensure the fate of 12728 Zilla Parishad, Gram Panchayat and Panchayat Samity candidates of different political parties. To avoid any kind of circumstances during the counting procedure, SEC deployed tight security among the counting centers. In addition the SEC has also installed CCTV cameras in each counting station.

According to the State Election Commission (SEC) sources, the counting procedure is continuing in 44 different counting centers under 35 block areas across the state. The counting procedure was started on 8.00 am, this morning and would continue till the conclusion of counting.

Altogether, 13,745 candidates of different political parties have contested the three-tier Panchayat polls in Tripura. Among them, 980 candidates of Gram Panchayat, 38 of Panchayat Samity and 2 candidates of Zilla Parishad won the battle without any contest. They are all candidates of CPI (m) party. The source further added that polling has been concluded for 6111 seats in 3392 constituencies for 591 Gram Panchayats, 419 seats in 419 constituencies under 35 Panchayat Samities and 116 seats in 116 constituencies under 8 Zilla Parishads across all over the state. Noticeable, re-election has been conducted in six different centers with 94.1 percent turn-out on July 15.

No untoward incident of violence was reported till 11.45, this morning. To ensure the peace and violence free counting, SEC arranged tight security in each counting station. Tripura Police (TP), Border Security Force (BSF) and Tripura State Rifles (TSR) personals are jointly monitoring the movements of the people in the counting areas.