By IANS
Agartala : Altogether 365 candidates representing 13 political parties and independents have filed nominations for the Feb 23 election to the 60-member Tripura assembly, officials said here Thursday.
Of the 365 aspirants, 18 are women and 81 independents.
“Scrutiny of the candidatures was done Thursday and the last date of withdrawal of nominations is Saturday,” said Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) G.S.G. Ayyangar.
Along with Tripura, assembly elections will also be held in Meghalaya March 3 followed by Nagaland March 5. The counting of votes will be held for Tripura and Meghalaya March 7 and for Nagaland March 8.
In four constituencies, dissident Congress candidates also filed their nominations while 12 Forward Bloc candidates have filed their candidatures against the dominant partner of the ruling Left Front, Communist Party of India- Marxist (CPI-M).
The Forward Bloc (FB), one of the four constituents of the Left Front, has decided to contest the crucial polls in alliance with the Communist Party of India-Marxist Leninist (CPI-ML).
The CPI-M-led Left Front has allotted only one seat to the FB although the ally was demanding three seats in the 60-member house.
Ayyangar said 60 election commission observers have reached their allotted constituencies.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress President Sonia Gandhi, her son and MP Rahul Gandhi, Chief Ministers of Jammu and Kashmir, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee are among forty leaders from various parts of the country likely to campaign for the Congress.
West Bengal Chief Minister Bhudhadeb Bhattacharjee, CPI-M general secretary Prakash Karat, party’s Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechury and a host of other left party leaders are expected to campaign for the ruling Left Front.