News Analysis India

Tag: Tripura civic polls

  • Tripura civic polls: BJP celebrates win, TMC pleased with its ‘exceptional performance’ in 3 months

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: The TMC, which has left the CPI(M) behind to emerge as the main opposition of the BJP in several wards of Tripura’s municipal bodies, said on Sunday that its “exceptional” performance, despite being a new entrant in the state, is an indicator of the party’s prospects in 2023 assembly elections.

    The BJP leadership, rejoicing over the saffron camp’s emphatic win in the northeastern state, however, stated that the civic poll results have exposed the “hollowness” of TMC’s claims of having made inroads in Tripura.

    Several BJP workers here were seen feasting on sweets and smearing each other with ‘gulal’ during the day to celebrate their party’s victory in the neighbouring state.

    Taking to Twitter, TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, nevertheless, said that it was “exceptional” for his party, which had negligible presence in Tripura, to have clinched “20 per cent of the vote share”.

    “This is despite the fact that we commenced our activities barely 3 months ago and @BJP4Tripura left no stone unturned to BUTCHER DEMOCRACY in Tripura. Congratulations to all the brave soldiers of @AITC4Tripura for their exemplary courage,” he tweeted.

    Echoing him, the TMC’s West Bengal general secretary and spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said that his party has been able to secure the second position in several seats, “despite the violence unleashed by the ruling BJP” there.

    “2023 is ours, it (the results) forms the foundation of Trinamool’s victory in 2023,” Ghosh tweeted as results keep pouring in from different municipal bodies.

    He claimed that the TMC has been able to gain support of a considerable section of people.

    Alleging that the BJP was forming municipal boards by securing wins through violence and intimidation, the TMC leader further accused the police and the state election commission in Tripura of favouring the saffron party.

    He thanked party workers for their efforts and the people of Tripura for their support.

    Earlier in the day, BJP national vice-president Dilip Ghosh told reporters here that the saffron camp shares a “strong bond” with the residents of that state.

    The TMC will not be able to open its account in Tripura “unless the BJP decides against fielding candidate from a seat”, he maintained.

    “The civic poll results are on expected lines. The TMC did not have any chance to open its account in Tripura, they only made noises. This verdict shows hired people from West Bengal cannot help a party create a base in a state, which has faith in the BJP and not in Trinamool,” the BJP leader underlined.

    Leader of opposition in West Bengal Assembly Suvendu Adhikari extended his wishes to BJP workers and leaders and Tripura.

    “Heartiest congratulations @BJP4Tripura & Hon’ble CM @BjpBiplab for registering landslide victory in Agartala Corporation & all other Nagar Panchayats and Municipalities. We are grateful to the people of Tripura for wiping out the corrupt & fascist Tolamool (extortionist) party of Bengal,” he wrote on the microblogging platform.

    Adhikari was apparently referring to allegations of extortion and corruption levelled by the opposition camps in Bengal against the ruling TMC in the recent past.

    BJP’s Bengal unit president Sukanta Majumdar told reporters that the TMC had tried to create a false impression about its popularity in Tripura.

    “The TMC tried to destabilise the situation in Tripura by taking miscreants there from Bengal. The party has no support base in that state,” he added.

  • Three-tier security in place for civic poll counting in Tripura on Sunday

    By PTI

    AGARTALA: Three tier security is in place for the counting of votes for over 200 seats in the Agartala Municipal Corporation (AMC) and other civic bodies in Tripura, where it was held on Thursday amid court cases, arrests and allegations of attacks by political parties, a senior police official said on Saturday.

    The counting will be held on Sunday and apart from the scheduled security deployment, Tripura State Rifles and central armed polie force have been deployed for the maintenance of law and order in areas adjoining the counting centers, he said.

    A statement issued by the Assistant Inspector General of Police (law and order) Subrata Chakrabarty also appealed to the people to be wary of any kind of rumours.

    “The counting of votes in connection with General Election to the Municipal and Nagar Panchayat, 2021 for 6 Nagar Panchayats, 7 Municipal Council and the Agartala Municipal Corporation will be conducted in 13 counting centers all over the state. In this regard adequate police arrangement has been made for each counting centre. For maintenance of law & order during counting of votes, three-tier security arrangement has been made for each counting centre by deploying CAPF as well as State Police and Tripura State Rifles”, a statement issued by Chakraborty said.

    Altogether there are 334 seats in the urban local bodies, including Agartala Municipal Corporation (51 wards), 13 municipal councils and six nagar panchayats in the state.

    The ruling BJP has fielded candidates in all seats in the Tripura civic elections and has already won 112 out of the total 334 seats uncontested in the Agartala Municipal Corporation and 19 urban bodies.

    In the remaining 222 seats, as many as 785 contestants are in the fray after 36 candidates withdrew their nominations.

    The elections were fought mainly between the three parties – the BJP, the TMC and CPI(M).

    TMC has demanded total countermanding of the election alleging that it was “heavily rigged and reduced to a farce” by the ruling BJP.

    Opposition CPI-M has demanded countermanding of elections in five wards of AMC.

    Both the parties alleged that police and the state election commission had remained silent spectators despite complaints of rigging by “goons sheltered by BJP”.

    Meanwhile, BJP spokesperson Nabendu Bhattacharya in a statement said the party’s leaders held detailed discussions on the role of party karyakartas in connection with the counting and the situation after it.

    “Party karyakartas were asked to maintain discipline and to act as per the directions of the state leaders and should follow the organisational tradition after announcement of the results”, Bhattacharya said in a statement.

  • SC refuses TMC’s plea to postpone civic polls in Tripura, directs reassessment of force deployment

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court Tuesday refused the Trinamool Congress (TMC) party’s plea for postponing of municipal elections in Tripura and said it is an ‘extreme recourse’ and last resort to do in a democracy and passed a slew of directions to the state police to ensure free and fair elections.

    The apex court directed reassessment of deployment of Para-Military forces in critical areas and warned of coercive action if the directives are not followed scrupulously.

    It also sought details of the FIRs registered in view of violent incidents during campaigning and the arrests made in those case.

    A bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and Vikram Nath said, “Postponing election is a matter of last and extreme recourse. It is our considered view that short of postponing of elections, the apprehensions which have been expressed on behalf of the petitioners by the counsels can be suitably addressed by issuing peremptory directions to the State of Tripura, so as to ensure that the remaining phases of the Municipal elections take place in peaceful and orderly manner.”

    The top court was hearing a plea of TMC seeking contempt action against the Tripura government and other officials for failing to curtail violent incidents against opposition parties in the run up to the upcoming Municipal polls.

    It said the reports of breach of law and order, which have been brought to the notice of law enforcing agencies, are to be duly dealt with in accordance with law.

    “The DGP and the IGP (law and order) shall hold a joint meeting with the State Election Commission by tomorrow morning for the purpose of assessing the availability of sufficient strength of paramilitary forces drawn from the CRPF for ensuring peaceful conduct of the remaining phases of the elections,” the bench directed.

    The top court said that after making an assessment of the situation on the ground, if so required, a requisition shall be submitted to the CRPF or as the case may be to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs.

    “Any such request shall be duly considered having regard to the situation and in the interest of ensuring peace, security and orderly conduct of elections in the state of Tripura on November 25, 2021,” it said.

    The bench said the DGP and the IGP shall take all steps to ensure that the election process is conducted in peace and orderly manner and without any disruptions, particularly on the date of polling leading up to the counting of ballots on November 28.

    “Since serious grievance have been raised on behalf of the petitioners by the counsel that despite the lodging of FIR, no action has been taken by law enforcing agencies, the respondents (Tripura and police) shall submit before this court a tabulated statement of the complaints which have been lodged, FIR which have been registered; action which have been taken and arrests that have been made,” the bench said.

    It said the tabulated statement shall be submitted together with the compliance affidavits which have already been directed to be filed by this court by its previous order dated November 11.

    “While we are not inclined to accede to the prayer for postponing of the elections, we are equally of the view that it is the duty of DGP and IGP and the home secretary of Tripura to assuage any misgiving about the fairness of the law enforcing machinery in supporting the electoral process,” it said.

    The top court said the law enforcement agencies must discharge their duties even handed and in nonpartisan manner to obviate the grievance which have been raised before this court that candidates and supporters of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) are unfairly targeted by contesting political groups.

    “When a compliance affidavit is filed before this court, it shall contain a detailed elaboration of steps which have been taken with regard to law and order to ensure security for the contesting candidates and protect the electoral process from any kind of taint leading upto the counting of votes and declaration of results,” it said.

    The bench said, “We would impress upon the DGP to observe these directions scrupulously, so as to obviate the need for this court to adopt any coercive steps in the event of breach of its directions comes to its light”.

    Senior advocates Jaideep Gupta and Gopal Shankaranaryanan said that they have filed an application for appointment of an independent observer in the state for free and fair conduct of elections.

    The bench said, “let us see what happens in two days and we would then consider it on November 25.

    We have given our mind to the law enforcing machinery and on November 25, we will see what else could be done”.

    Earlier, during the day, the bench sought to know from senior advocate Mahesh Jethmalani, about the Para-Military force deployment and whether any more Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) can be requisitioned, for deployment in critical areas.

    Jethmalani submitted a statement filed by state DGP VS Yadav and Inspector General of Police (IGP) Arindam Nath giving the details of force deployment.

    The bench noted the position and said that three battalions of CRPF comprising 18 companies (nine sections per company) are deployed in the State for field duty.

    On November 11, the top court had directed the Tripura government to ensure that no political party including TMC, in the fray for local body polls of the state, is prevented from pursuing electoral rights in accordance with law and from campaigning in a peaceful and orderly manner.

    It had issued notice to the state government on the plea by TMC and its Rajya Sabha MP Sushmita Dev seeking security for the party workers and representatives alleging wide scale violence against them.

  • Tripura heads to civic polls in litmus test for TMC, Left

    Express News Service

    GUWAHATI: A day after the Supreme Court had directed the Tripura government to make sure political parties are not prevented from conducting programmes in a peaceful manner, the Trinamool Congress on Friday alleged four of its candidates of municipal elections and some of their supporters were “physically manhandled” during the campaign by BJP “goons”.

    TMC state leader Subal Bhowmik said the party would bring the incidents to the Supreme Court’s notice after filing a complaint with the police.

    “The BJP-orchestrated attacks on the members of opposition parties in Tripura have not ceased. Even after the Supreme Court’s order, four of our candidates and their supporters were physically manhandled by BJP goons. Some of the attacks were carried out when we were conducting a door-to-door campaign,” Bhowmik alleged.

    He said the candidates targeted were Panna Deb, Aparna Biswas, Poushali Dey and Padmini Bhattacharya. “Eleven MLAs have been targeted so far under BJP rule. No opposition party can work in Tripura. Our workers and supporters are facing attacks every day during the poll campaigns. There is no democracy,” the TMC leader said.

    The November 25 municipal elections will be an acid test for the TMC as well as the Left parties, particularly CPI-M.

    ALSO READ | Tripura violence: Supreme Court to hear plea seeking quashing of FIR against civil society members

    The TMC has set its sights on Tripura buoyed by its success in the West Bengal elections. The party, which is trying to grow at the expense of the Congress, is contesting 120 of the 334 seats in 20 urban local bodies (ULBs).

    “Despite the attacks by the BJP, we are focussed on the upcoming polls. We are confident of wresting power in the Agartala Municipal Corporation (AMC),” Bhowmik said.

    The BJP has already won 112 seats uncontested and Bhowmik said the TMC candidates could not file their nominations in these seats as the BJP goons, allegedly armed with machetes, sticks etc, had virtually laid siege to the office of returning officers.

    The CPI-M echoed the TMC by alleging that the BJP had “hijacked” seven ULBs (they have 120 seats).

    “The BJP and its ally IPFT (Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura) are fast losing ground. Tripura has never seen such an anti-people and anti-development government. They have surpassed all previous records and as a result, got cut off from the public,” CPI-M leader Jitendra Chowdhury told this newspaper.

    He said the people were viewing the polls as a struggle to restore democracy in the state.

    “They (BJP) don’t have the courage to face people in the elections. Terrorism is their only resort. They had hijacked seven ULBs. Thursday’s order of the Supreme Court proved they are unleashing fascist-type attacks in Tripura,” Chowdhury said.

    The CPI-M, which ruled Tripura for 25 years on the trot from 1993-2018, is contesting 206 seats. The polls will decide the fate of the remaining 785 candidates contesting from 222 seats. The votes will be counted on November 28.