| GUWAHATI: Tripura Pradesh Congress Committee has urged the Election Commission of India to take all necessary measures to ensure free and fair parliamentary elections in the state.
In a letter to the CEC, TPCC vice president, Tapas Dey alleged that the ruling party leaders were resorting to illegal activities to “avoid inevitable defeat of BJP, thereby making the poll process a farce”. “The chief minister and other leaders including both the candidates of BJP have openly said that human barricades would be formed on the day of election to resist electors from approaching the polling booths and identification of those electors has started. These leaders have also instructed the BJP hooligans to ensure that no polling agents of Congress or any other political party turn up on the day of poll,” the letter to the CEC read. The TPCC vice president stated in the letter that there were many officials in the administration on whom it was keeping a close watch because of their partisan activities and those names shall be brought to the CEC’s knowledge in due course. In view of the prevailing scenario, TPCC has urged the CEC to declare all polling booths in Tripura as hypersensitive. Dey further stated that polling booths needed to be video-graphed under the direct surveillance of the Election Commission. “Since there is every likelihood of absence of polling agents of the opposition parties and to ensure no false voting takes place, the central paramilitary forces standing outside the door of the polling booths need to be entrusted with the task of matching the identity cards of the electors as it is done in all the airports of India. Also, the fingers of all electors taking entry needs to be checked,” the letter read. “Constant patrolling of all the villages need to be ensured by the central paramilitary forces to restore the confidence of electors to turn up for voting,” it read. “The chief electoral officer/district electoral officers need to be given strict warning from your end to perform their duties as per election manual,” TPCC vice president wrote in the letter to the CEC. Dey further stated that ever since the date of the parliamentary elections was announced, a reign of terror has been let loose by the party in power to induce a fear psychosis amongst the electors and rig the election process. |
