The Tripura paradox: After high poll turnouts, the spectre of post-poll violence

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Key Points

The election day enthusiasm among the people of Tripura, which often translates into staggering turnouts exceeding 90 per cent, has few parallels in most other parts of India where urban voter apathy has emerged as a major concern, a fact acknowledged by the Election Commission of India...

In Tripura, while the lead-up to polling day witnesses hectic campaigning marked by rallies, corner meetings and doorstep visits by candidates on the day of voting, people, particularly women with children in tow, queue up in front of polling booths from early morning in a show of remarkable political consciousness..

A joint delegation comprising Left and Congress leaders is also headed to Tripura as part of a fact-finding mission on the post-poll violence..

The demographic shift in Tripura caused by the entry of displaced Bengalis from present-day Bangladesh in phases from the 1940s till the Bangladesh War of Liberation in 1971 also created fissures that the state has been struggling to contain to date..

Speaking at The Indian Express Idea Exchange recently, TIPRA Motha chairperson Pradyot Debbarma observed that the political violence was also linked to poverty and the clashes were triggered by people who are paid to commit violence...

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