Tripura: BJP ahead in 13 assembly seats, Left-Cong in 6

Agartala: The ruling BJP was ahead in 13 assembly seats in Tripura, the Election Commission said on Thursday morning as counting was underway for 60 constituencies.

The Congress and its partner CPI(M) were leading in three seats each, while the Tipra Motha was also ahead in five seats, it said.

Chief Minister Manik Saha was leading in the Town Bardowali seat over his nearest Congress rival Ashish Kumar Saha by 344 votes.

Senior Congress leader Sudip Roy Barman was ahead of BJP's Papia Dutta by 1,670 votes.

BJP state president Rajib Bhattacharjee was trailing by over 300 votes in the Banamalipur seat as Congress candidate Gopal Roy took a lead.

In the Khayerpur seat, CPI(M)'s Pabitra Kar was leading by around 3,000 votes over assembly speaker Ratan Chakraborty of the BJP.

CPI(M) state secretary Jitendra Chowdhury was leading by 660 votes against BJP's incumbent MLA Sankar Roy in the Sabroom constituency.

Counting of votes began at 8 am amid tight security. The polling was held on February 16. A total of 89.98 per cent of 28.12 lakh voters exercised their franchise.