An average voter turnout of 60.61 per cent was recorded till 1 pm of polling on Tuesday in the by-elections to Dhanpur and Boxanagar assembly seats in Tripura's Sepahijala district, an official said.

Voting began at 7 am in 59 booths in Dhanpur assembly constituency and 51 in Boxanagar, and is scheduled to continue till 4 pm.

The polling percentage was 61.61 in the Dhanpur assembly seat and 59.62 in Boxanagar till 1 pm, District Magistrate Vishal Kumar told PTI.

"I urge the people to maintain peace during the polling and repeat the precedent of peaceful voting like of last assembly elections," Chief Minister Manik Saha said in a Facebook post.

BJP's Tafajjal Hussain, who unsuccessfully contested the last assembly election from Boxanagar, is contesting against CPI(M) nominee Mizan Hussain from there.

The Boxanagar assembly segment has 66 per cent minority voters of a total of 43,087 electors.

In the last assembly elections in February, the CPI(M) retained the seat.

The Dhanpur assembly constituency, once considered a stronghold of the Left, witnesses a fight between the BJP's Bindu Debnath and Kaushik Debnath of the CPI(M). There are 50,346 voters.

The BJP won the seat for the first time in the assembly poll held seven months ago.

The Congress and the Tripra Motha did not field their candidates in the two seats for the by-polls.

The by-election to the Boxanagar constituency was necessitated by the death of CPI(M) MLA Samsul Haque.

Union Minister Pratima Bhoumik's resignation as the MLA of Dhanpur necessitated the by-election to that seat.

Votes will be counted on September 8.

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