Agartala Mar 31 PTI Voting for Tripuras lone Rajya Sabha seat is underway in the state assembly on Thursday amid strict adherence to COVID-19 protocols an Election Commission official saidAltogether 27 legislators have exercised their franchise till 1030 am Chief Electoral Officer Gitte Kirankumar Dinkarrao told PTIThe turnout is very good The polling has been going on smoothly without any trouble or technical snag It is scheduled to end at 4 pm and the counting of votes will take place later in the day after getting permission from the Election Commission of India ECI he saidState BJP president Dr Manik Saha who had joined the party in 2016 is in the fray while the CPIM has fielded former Tripura finance minister and sitting MLA Bhanu Lal Saha as its nominee for the electionMLAs in the 60-member Tripura assembly are participating in the Rajya Sabha election as members of the Upper House of Parliament are elected by legislators in state assemblies It is an election through proportional representationChief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb held a meeting with the BJP and IPFT MLAs in his residence on Wednesday nightBJP legislator Kalayani Roy issued a whip to its MLAs to avoid cross-voting in the electionThe Left Front currently has 15 MLAs in the Tripura assembly while the ruling BJP has a strength of 33 and its ally IPFT has eightBJP legislators Sudip Roy Barman and Asish Saha resigned from the assembly and gave up their memberships of the party in February They later joined the CongressTripura Speaker Ratan Chakraborty in January disqualified BJP MLA Ashish Das who has joined the Trinamool Congress while CPIM legislator Ramendra Chandra Debnath died recentlyThe tenure of incumbent Rajya Sabha MP from Tripura Jharna Das Baidya will expire on April 2 PTI PS BDC BDC

Agartala (Tripura) [India], September 24 (ANI): Almost three weeks after Rebati Mohan Das resigned citing 'personal reasons', Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Ratan Chakraborty took charge as Speaker of Tripura Assembly on Friday.