Opp says more needed as EC acts on Tripura Cong rally attack, orders probe into 54 cases of violence

The poll panel also ordered an inquiry into 54 other incidents of violence in the recent past against Opposition leaders and supporters.

The EC said the Sub-Divisional Police Officer of the Jirania Sub-Division, and Officers in-charge of Ranirbazaar and Jirania Police Stations, were being suspended for not taking “appropriate action in time”. It also directed the Chief Secretary and DGP to ensure “a level playing field”, to assess the threat perception of leaders across parties, and initiate strict action against “partisan” officials.

While there have been some arrests in the case, the Congress has said that its supporters were among those held.

Meanwhile, even after the EC took note of the Jirania incident, incidents of violence were reported in the state, including the killing of Pranajit Namasudra, a TIPRA Motha activist, at Dhalai district. Though Motha didn’t name a party, its supremo Pradyot Kishore Manikya Debbarma obliquely hinted at the BJP, adding: “The EC must answer for the murder. It promised zero violence. The administration will have to answer for it. What is happening in Tripura?”

The CPI(M) said it had submitted at least 30 complaints of poll-related violence in different parts of Tripura, particularly in West Tripura, Sepahijala and Gomati districts.

CPI(M) state secretary Jitendra Chaudhury said the “secular democratic forces” of the party, Congress and Tripura Peoples Party would submit a memorandum to the CEO on “all incidents of such violence”, after a major rally to be held by them at Agartala on Saturday.

CEO Kiran Dinkarrao Gitte confirmed to The Indian Express Friday that they had received 14 complaints from different political parties in two days since the elections were announced on January 18. “We have resolved eight of them and are working on the others.”

Allegations of poll violence are not new in Tripura, with past rivals Congress and Left – which have now announced they will fight jointly – often taking on each other in their decades of rivalry. However, as per the two parties, “all records of violence” have been crossed since 2018, when the BJP came to power in Tripura for the first time.

The Congress and CPI(M) also allege that all the elections held in the state since 2018 — including the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, and the civic body polls and Assembly by-elections last year — were “rigged”. The EC had to countermand voting at many stations, including during the civic body polls, due to such incidents.

The BJP has won all the polls since 2018, barring the 2021 Tripura Autonomous District Council polls, which were swept by the TIPRA Motha, just two months after the party was floated.

Expressing unhappiness at the EC’s response, senior Congress leader and MLA Sudip Roy Barman said: “Since the announcement of the elections, there have been multiple attacks, not only on the Congress but also on the Motha at numerous places.” Recounting the Jirania incident, he said while Ajay Kumar had to be hospitalised, ex-MLA Gopal Chandra Roy was badly beaten among others, while vehicles of Congress workers were damaged or stolen.

Barman also claimed an attack using petrol bombs on a Congress party office at Udaipur, and said that instead of nabbing the culprits, the police were busy implicating Opposition activists in “false cases”. The Congress though hasn’t given out figures of complaints it has submitted to the EC.

Opposition parties add that even if the CEO has good intentions, the officials depend on facts and data gathered by the police, which itself was “biased”. The paramilitary forces deployed for poll duty – around a hundred have already reached and more are expected — function under the police.

Incidentally, former chief minister and CPI(M) leader Manik Sarkar has expressed apprehension over the “massive” central security deployment as well. He asked his party colleagues to “keep an eye” on their activities.

CEO Gitte said they were doing all they could to accomplish their ‘Mission Zero Poll Violence’ and was confident it would be a success. “Disha zero ke taraf hee hai. Aap compare kariye 2018 ke sath (The direction is towards zero. You compare it with 2018),” he said.

During the last Assembly elections, the EC had recorded 370 complaints of poll violence.

While denying the allegations against it by Opposition parties – which point their fingers especially at its “bike goons”, referring to men on motorcycles distributed by the party — the BJP said that it had “faith in democracy” and the EC.

“Our karyakartas (workers) are very busy taking the message of development and achievements of the BJP-led government here in the last five years. We don’t have time for such violence,” BJP state president Rajeeb Bhattacharya said.

He added that Opposition parties might have orchestrated “a false drama of political violence” to create tension.

A senior Tripura Police officer, who did not wish to be named, said they had tightened security throughout the state and were using central forces to conduct area domination and flag marches, especially in sensitive spots with previous history of violence

Tripura goes to elections on February 16. The votes would be counted on March 2.