Balloting begins for Lok Sabha polls in Tripura

Agartala, April 7 (IANS) Polling in one of the two Lok Sabha seats in Tripura began Monday in the first phase of India’s general election, officials said.

Around 1.2 million voters are eligible to vote in the Tripura West constituency. Polling for the Tripura East seat will be held April 12.

The 13 candidates in Monday’s fray include a woman, Joganati Datta, an independent candidate.

In 2009, Khagen Das of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) defeated Congress’s Sudip Roy Barman.

The Left has won from West Tripura 11 times since the first Lok Sabha election of 1952 and the Congress four times.

CPI-M’s Sankar Prasad Datta, Congress’s Arunoday Saha, BJP state president Sudhindra Chandra Dasgupta, Trinamool Congress state chief Ratan Chakraborty and Aam Aadmi Party’s Salil Saha are among the contenders.