AS 59 Assembly constituencies, with 25,36,589 voters across the state’s 3,174 polling stations, cast their votes in the elections on Sunday, an uneasy calm descended on Tripura. Despite fears of possible violence, polling remained incident-free and peaceful. But it has been a tense run-up to the elections, with clashes between BJP and CPI(M) workers this past week, and the two main political opponents accusing each other of intimidating voters. Both voters and analysts say this is one of the toughest political fights they have seen in Tripura’s recent history, with BJP determined to wrest power from the last red bastion in the country.

The voter turnout was 78.5 per cent. Additional Chief Electoral Officer Tapas Ray said there were problems with EVMs and VVPATs in a number of polling booths. “We rectified this, but voting got delayed. We have allowed voting till 9 pm tonight,’’ he said, adding that there were no reports of violence from any part of the state.

While past elections have seen contests between the CPI(M) and Congress, this time, it is a battle of ideologies between the Left and Right.

Abdul Ahmed, 71, was the first voter at the Rajnagar polling booth, near the India-Bangladesh border. He arrived at 5.30 am, and waited for one-and-a-half hours to finally cast his vote. Like most constituencies, voters say that Rajnagar is also split down the middle, with the CPI(M)’s traditional vote bank staying true to the party and the Congress voters shifting to the BJP.

“Some of the Congress’s Muslim voters have shifted to the CPI(M). I have always voted for the CPI(M). We have seen what is happening across the country… This election is especially important to us. We just want to live in peace, as we have always done, with our Hindu neighbours… We don’t feel this is possible under the BJP,’’ he said.

Political analysts say that with the Congress decimated in Tripura, most of the 9 per cent Muslim voters in the state have turned to the CPI(M). While some have remained with the Congress, a handful have joined the BJP.

Sunil Deodhar, BJP’s Tripura prabhari, said his party has worked hard to break the CPI(M)’s hold in these tribal areas — from including tribals in every Morcha, tying up with the IPFT, setting up a separate Tribal Morcha. “We will wipe out the CPI(M) in all 20 of these tribal seats,’’ he said.

Meanwhile, Pradyot Debbarman, state working president of the Congress and erstwhile Maharaja Of Tripura, said the comparatively low voter turnout would work in favour of the CPI(M). “Seventy six per cent till the evening is low for Tripura. In the last Assembly elections, the turnout was 93 per cent. To me, this indicates that the CPI(M) voter came out and voted,” he said.