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Trinamool Congress alleges violation of SC order at Tripura polls
Moving an application bringing on record the details of these violations, senior advocate Kapil Sibal appearing for AITC requested for an urgent hearing prior to the counting of votes on Sunday.
The All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) told the Supreme Court on Friday that it was “mayhem” at the local body polls in Tripura where in violation of the top court’s order, paramilitary forces were not posted at all polling booths, security denied to candidates with many not even being able to cast their vote, and media access restricted to all television channels.
Moving an application bringing on record the details of these violations, senior advocate Kapil Sibal appearing for AITC requested for an urgent hearing prior to the counting of votes on Sunday.
Sibal said, “Horrendous scenes have been recorded by us on video. This Court had directed unhindered access to media at polling booths. But what we saw was absolute mayhem. Our candidates were not allowed to enter polling booths to cast votes, no central armed paramilitary forces (CAPF) were available and the ‘two constables to each candidate’ rule was flouted. This is not done. It is complete violation of this court’s order. It is a very serious situation and we require an urgent hearing.”
The matter was mentioned before a bench headed by Justice Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud as the order for additional deployment of CAPF and unhindered media access was passed on Thursday by a three-judge bench headed by him, the other two being Justices Surya Kant and Vikram Nath. Justice Chandrachud told Sibal that since the remaining two judges were not sitting with him on Friday; it will be difficult to take up the matter.
When Sibal requested for a special sitting on Saturday, the judge said he would consult the other two judges and seek their availability.
On Thursday, polls were held to nearly 334 seats in the urban local bodies, which include 13 municipal councils, six nagar panchayats and 51 wards of the Agartala Municipal Corporation.
Considering allegations of unabated violence in the state against AITC workers and candidates, the top court directed the ministry of home affairs (MHA) to provide additional two companies of CAPFs till the date of counting of votes in addition to the presence of the Central Reserve Police Force, border security force and Tripura state rifles, already deployed for law and order and securing polling booths.
In addition, the SC bench directed the state police chief and home secretary to review the security arrangements and asked the Centre to provide for more forces, if needed. The matter was posted for December 2 by the Court to consider compliance of its directions.
