Agartala (Tripura): Around 2,500 voters crossed fencing on the India-Bangladesh border to cast their votes in Tripura on April 19.
The barbed wire fencing might have cast a shadow on their lives but none of them want to miss the opportunity to exercise their franchise in the biggest festival of democracy. A substantial number of voters in Tripura for historical reasons, had to stay beyond the barbed wire fencing.
Those who have attained the legal age for voting are now enrolled in the electoral rolls of Tripura. Since morning, the border gates have been opened to facilitate the voting.
Amid heightened security given the polls, Indian citizens, who are sort of cut off from the mainstream, expressed that they have been receiving all kinds of cooperation from the authorities so that they can cast their votes without any hassle.
Speaking to ANI, an Indian citizen Hafizur Rahmanz who lives in the Bangladesh side of the barbed wire fencing said all the 50 voters who live in his village are eager to cast their votes in these elections.
"My name is Hafizur Rahman. I live on the other side of the fence. The situation is quite good. The voting is also proceeding smoothly. There are 19 families consisting of 50 voters. Most of them have cast their votes in the morning and the remaining voters will soon come to cast their votes," said Rahman.
The voting also coincided with "Jumma.". "Due to Jumma, some people were busy with religious activities. All of them will certainly come to cast votes," Rahman told ANI, adding that the border gates stay open when the polling is underway.
The border guarding forces deployed at the border gates verify the photo identification cards of the villagers who have to cross the fence every day. On the voting day as well, there was no exception. In the Jayanagar area, located very close to Agartala city, female BSF personnel have been discharging their duties.
Ful Banu Begam, another resident of the same village that falls under the Ramnagar assembly constituency, said, "The families living in our village have been participating in the election process since morning. We have faced no problems so far. Several people have already voted; others are getting ready to cast their votes. Everything is going on peacefully. We live ahead of the fence. This 80C gate behind me helps us cross the borders."
According to the Returning Officer West Tripura Parliamentary seat, the total number of voters living ahead of the fence stands at 2,500. All the ahead-of-fence villages fall under the jurisdiction of the West Tripura Parliamentary Constituency.
"The voting turnout is satisfactory and if the trends keep rising at the same pace, the total voting turnout will certainly cross the 80 per cent mark," said RO West Tripura Dr Vishal Kumar.
He said that around 34 per cent of the voters casted their vote adding that administration and police made rounds to keep a strict vigil on the safety and security of the voters.
On the security measures in bordering areas given the history of violence in the area, he said, "Since Ramnagar is a border-aligned area and it has a history of poll violence, we have made adequate arrangements for security personnel. Teams of administration and police have been making rounds to keep a strict vigil. According to reports received from the polling stations, the voting process is underway smoothly and no untoward incident has occurred so far."
On the population living ahead of fencing areas, Dr Kumar said, "If you consider the whole Parliamentary Constituency, more than 2,500 voters are residing between the zero line and fencing and most of them are living in Boxanagar. The population there is around 1,600 and all will vote here. We have seen that a large number of voters participated in the polls last year. More than 90 per cent of them cast their votes. We hope the same scenario will be there this year also."
