Tripura Opposition Alleges ‘Large-Scale’ Voter Intimidation in By-Elections

Kolkata, Agartala: Violence and voter intimidation was reported in several areas during the by-elections to four Assembly seats in Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled Tripura on Thursday.

Except for Yuvarajnagar, Dharmanagar district, where all parties said that polling was largely peaceful, violence was reported from the other segments. Several of the booths in Dhalai’s Surma Assembly segment were allegedly captured by hooligans after 4 pm.

‘The BJP is politically bankrupt and completely isolated,” CPI(M) state secretary Jitendra Choudhury told reporters. “Dacoits and thieves had been hired by the BJP to plunder votes and intimidate voters. It shows that the party’s end days are fast approaching,” he said alleging that despite the chief electoral officer Gitte Kirankumar Dinkarrao’s best efforts, “a section of the police hierarchy openly sided with the ruling party by alerting the vote plunderers before any action was taken”. 

Choudhury alleged “large-scale rigging” in eight Town Bordowali and six Agartala booths. The CPI(M) has demanded repolling at these booths and five booths in Surma.

Accusing chief minister Manik Saha of having “double standards”, Choudhury said, “On one hand, he talks of democracy and peace and on the other, he hires hooligans from all over the state to win the elections. If he has any conscience, he should resign by tomorrow.” In Saha’s Assembly segment of 8 Town Bordowali, there were complaints of large-scale voter intimidation by BJP “hooligans” reportedly hired from as far as Hrishyamukh and Sabroom districts.

In the state capital of Agartala, the condition was particularly bad. A policeman was stabbed on way to cast his vote and a poor voter called Nanu Choudhury was thrown into the Katakhal River by alleged BJP hooligans. In yet another incident, the car of a businessman identified as Sukhendu Saha, who had come with his 79-year-old mother to cast vote at the Maharani Tulsivati High School, was vandalized.

A father-son duo was brutally beaten up by alleged BJP miscreants on way to the polling booth in Masterpara area, Bordowali. In the 6 Agartala Assembly segment, two fake voters were caught red-handed by a female journalist of a TV channel at MTC Girls School and were detained by BSF personnel on duty. The two voters reportedly confessed to their crime and said that they had been asked by the BJP to cast fake votes. Meanwhile, all opposition women polling agents at the two model woman booths in Ramnagar, 8 Town Bordowali, were driven out.

However, Dinkarrao said that barring some stray incidents of violence, voting was largely peaceful, and all the allegations are being probed.

Voter turnout was 78.58% till the end of polling hours, according to the office of the chief election officer, compared to more than 90% during the rule of the erstwhile Left Front government.