E-Paper
In Tripura, EC gets 800 complaints, Opposition alleges booth capturing
The Election Commission on Tuesday announced that it was deferring voting in the Tripura (East) Lok Sabha seat in the third phase to April 23 from April 18, saying the prevailing law-and-order situation was not conducive for holding a free and fair election.
A total of 800 complaints related to irregularities and violence in the polling process in Tripura have been filed by different parties and officials since April 11, S Taranikanti, the state’s chief electoral officer, said on Friday.
Officials are assessing video footage from CCTV cameras in polling centres in the first phase on April 11, when voting was held in the Tripura (West) constituency, he said. “We have noticed some irregularities during scrutiny of the video footage. The scrutiny process is still on.”
The opposition Communist Party of India (Marxist) has demanded re-polling in 774 of the 1,679 booths where voting was held on April 11. The Congress, too, alleged violations by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in several booths, demanding the resignations of Taranikanti and director general of police AK Shukla. Tripura has two Lok Sabha seats; the Tripura (West) constituency recorded a turnout of 83% on April 11.
The Election Commission on Tuesday announced that it was deferring voting in the Tripura (East) Lok Sabha seat in the third phase to April 23 from April 18, saying the prevailing law-and-order situation was not conducive for holding a free and fair election.
The BJP has accused both the CPI(M) and the Congress of being involved in a conspiracy to defer polling. “The Election Commission got confused with complaints of violence lodged by both the CPI(M) and the
Congress. It was a conspiracy of both the parties to defer the poll,” said state law minister Ratan Lal Nath.
