The counting of votes for the three-tier panchayat elections began in Tripura on Wednesday.

The Tripura Pradesh Congress Committee has set up a high-powered committee to monitor the counting process, amid tight security.

The Left Front has submitted a memorandum to Director General in-charge Rajiv Singh to ensure a smooth, free and fair counting process.

The State Election Commission has assured that all necessary security measures were kept in place to ensure free and fair counting process.

Opposition parties, including Congress and CPI (M), claimed that the election and counting process would not reflect true mandate by public since many voters were not allowed to participate in the electoral process and caste votes.

An official of the Tripura State Election Commission (SEC) said that 8,54,900 of the total 12,03,070 electors would exercise their franchise in 833-gram panchayats, 82 panchayat samitis, and 79 Zilla Parishad seats. In all, 2,327 candidates are contesting the elections to be held in 1,848 polling stations in 31 blocks under eight districts.

Over 9,500 government employees and senior officials were deployed on duty to conduct the polling. Tripura Police Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Arindam Nath assured of elaborate security arrangements so that polling went smoothly and peacefully.

As per latest reports, 76.63 per cent voter turnout was recorded in the seats that underwent polling.

Meanwhile, the Bhartiya Janata Party is hoping to win the state. BJP state general secretary Rajiv Bhattacharya expressed hope that people cast their mandate in favour of BJP like the 2018 assembly elections and 2019 Parliament polls. Speaking on Opposition’s allegation of unleashing political violence on them, Bhattacharya said they had lost political relevance.

CPI-M state Secretary and the party Central Committee member Gautam Das said that they had complained to the State Election Commission that some of the returning officers were also acting in BJP’s favour and had not even accepted the valid nomination papers of the Left candidates.