Reiterating its demand to hold repoll in 464 of the 1,679 polling stations in the Tripura West Lok Sabha constituency, the CPI-M led Left Front opposition on Sunday demanded free and fair polling in the Tripura East seat which goes to the polls in the second phase on April 18.
The Left parties would hold a sit-in here on Tuesday in support of their demands.
"Do not turn the Lok Sabha polls in the Tripura East seat on April 18 into a farce as was done in the Tripura West constituency on April 11," Left Front convenor Bijan Dhar told Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Sriram Taranikanti on Sunday.
Dhar, who led a five-member delegation to the CEO to submit their memorandum, said even Taranikanti confessed that he had received over 800 complaints during the first phase of polling which were being scrutinised by the Returning Officer of the Tripura West seat along with other poll related documents and electronic devises which documented the balloting.
Dhar, a Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) central committee member, said: "Since the first parliamentary elections in the country in 1952, Tripura had never witnessed such farcical and violent polling as was witnessed by the people of the state on April 11.
"The traditional festive milieu was completely missing during the first phase of polling, as the BJP workers and their hoodlums intimidated, prevented and attacked thousands of voters, including innocent BJP supporters, on the polling day and even few days before the voting."
"Even during the Congress rule (before 1978 and 1988-1993), the people of Tripura never witnessed such a mockery of polling. The BJP workers and their goons drove out Left and other parties' polling agents from hundreds of polling stations and prevented thousands of opposition supporters from casting their votes."
Demanding the effective deployment of central paramilitary forces and state forces for the second phase of polling, the Left leaders said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) governments at the Centre and in Tripura kept the security forces out of poll duties to facilitate rigging by its party workers.
The Left delegation to the CEO, which included state CPI-M Secretary Gautam Das and leaders from the Forward Bloc, the Revolutionary Socialist Party and the Communist Party of India, demanded adequate deployment of central paramilitary forces in all the 1,645 polling stations in the Tripura East constituency, which is reserved for the tribals.
The delegation also alleged that on April 11, state Agriculture Minister Pranajit Singh Roy and several other BJP MLAs freely roamed around many polling areas and indulged in electoral malpractices.
Rubbishing the allegations, BJP spokesperson Nabendu Bhattacharjee said in a media briefing that CPI-M candidate Shankar Prasad Datta had instigated the police to arrest and torture saffron party members in Barjala, near here, on Saturday.
"The opposition parties, especially the CPI-M, have got a clear message of their impending defeat. That's why they are trying to deteriorate the law and order situation in the state," Bhattacharjee said.
Festival of democracy enters second leg with 88 Lok Sabha seats across India set to vote
While 89 constituencies were slated to go to polls in the second phase, as per the initial announcement by the Election Commission, voting in Madhya Pradesh's Betul was advanced to the third phase on May 7 following the death of the BSP candidate in the fray.
Tripura BJP issues show-cause notice to party leader for slamming TMP chief Pradyot Debbarma
A day before the second phase of Lok Sabha elections, the ruling BJP in Tripura on Thursday served a show cause-notice to one of the party’s Vice-Presidents, Patal Kanya Jamatia, who accused Tipra Motha Party (TMP) chief Pradyot Bikram Manikya Debbarma of “spreading hatred” among tribals and non-tribals in the state.
PM Modi ups ante against Congress, says Rajiv Gandhi abolished inheritance law to 'save own interests'
Upping the ante against the Congress on the 'inheritance tax' issue, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday launched another scathing attack on the grand old party, saying it was former PM Rajiv Gandhi who abolished the inheritance law "to save their own interests" after the demise of his mother Indira Gandhi.
Multi-cornered contest in Tripura East LS seat going to polls on Friday
A multi-cornered contest will be witnessed in the Tripura East Lok Sabha seat, which goes to the polls in the second phase of the 7-phase parliamentary elections on Friday.
Credit card data of 17K ICICI Bank users exposed; bank blocks cards, assures compensation
After credit card data of at least 17,000 new ICICI Bank customers was exposed and reached "wrong users", the bank said on Thursday that it has blocked these cards and is issuing new ones to the customers.
TRIPURA: BSF jawan on election duty dies after rifle accidently goes off
In a tragic incident amid the preparation for the second phase of polling in Tripura, a Border Security Force (BSF) jawan, who was engaged in election duty died after his rifle went off accidentally.
13.96 lakh voters to cast vote in 1664 Polling stations tomorrow
Although nine candidates are in the fray in the Tripura East Lok Sabha constituency, the main battle will be mainly between BJP candidate Kirit Singh Debbarma and CPIM candidate Rajendra Reang.
CM leads campaign with vigor, Completes 30 rallies, 18 road shows covering over 6,000 km
Chief Minister Prof. Dr. Manik Saha vigorously campaigned for BJP candidates in the Lok Sabha elections & Bidhan Sabha by-election, participating in 30 public rallies, 18 road shows, and 7 padyatras.