The other panchayat elections: In Tripura 2019, it was BJP in the dock, no Opposition in 86% seats

Many would disagree. With almost the same cast of parties in play in Tripura, albeit with roles reversed, the 2019 panchayat elections in the state had seen charges of massive violations too, with the Opposition accusing the ruling BJP of deploying intimidation to win over 80% of the seats uncontested.

In contrast, the much-maligned Bengal rural polls of 2018, whose shadow continues to hang over the Trinamool Congress in the state, the ruling party had won 34% of the seats uncontested.

As per Sekhar Dutta, a veteran political analyst, if the incidents in Bengal reflect the violence endemic to its political history, going back to the 35-year Left Front rule, Tripura’s past has been as bloody.

“Recently, the incidents of violence have come down, and the Assembly elections held in 2023 were free and fair. However, the 2019 gram panchayat elections in Tripura involved large-scale poll rigging,” he said.

According to Dutta, one reason was that the 2019 Tripura rural polls came just a few months after the Left was voted out, ending its three-decade long run in power in the state, leaving it little time to regroup. Hence, the Left – the prime opponent in the state, with the Congress and TMC lagging behind — could not put up candidates in many seats.

As many as 86% of the Tripura gram panchayat seats were won uncontested by the BJP, with the counting seeing clashes between Congress and BJP supporters at Kailashahar in Unakoti district.

The CPI(M) claimed that the violence by BJP cadres had deterred their candidates from filing nominations; the Congress said most of its candidates had fled their villages to escape threats and intimidation, and taken refuge in undisclosed locations in state capital Agartala.

The BJP had brushed off allegations of fear politics at the time, saying Opposition parties were “politically bankrupt” and hence could not find enough supporters to fight on their tickets.

As per a now-retired police official, the run-up to the panchayat polls saw at least 17 major cases of poll violence, with 21 people held – including 10 who were BJP supporters, five of the CPI(M) and five from the Congress.

Like in Bengal, for the smooth conduct of polls, the State Election Commission pressed in other forces besides the police. In all, 6,000 Tripura State Rifles personnel were deployed, along with 17 companies of the BSF and CRPF (around 1,700 personnel), and 3,000 Tripura Police personnel.

The BJP continues to maintain that the Opposition’s allegations of rigging and violence in the 2019 panchayat elections in Tripura were wrong. “We don’t obstruct anyone from participating in elections. We believe in democracy. If the CPI(M) is unable to put up candidates due to its lost support base, we can’t be blamed for it. Can the BJP go and find candidates for the CPI(M)?” BJP spokesperson Nabendu Bhattacharya told The Indian Express.

West Bengal’s situation, he added, was “entirely different”. “It has been captured on camera and is all on record as to how people were stopped from participating in the elections in Bengal,” Bhattacharya said.

Senior Tripura CPI(M) leader and former deputy speaker Pabitra Kar said that the TMC’s role in the violence in Bengal apart, the BJP had no licence to do the same in Tripura.

“The CPI(M) couldn’t stage candidates in 96% of the seats while, overall, over 80% seats were won by the BJP unopposed. There has been large-scale violence in all elections since the BJP came to power in Tripura,” Kar said.

He gave an example from the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, of CPI(M) candidate and former MP Shankar Prasad Dutta withdrawing from the contest. Kar said this was in the face of the violence. “Tripura saw a very high proportion of seats requiring repolling in 2019. What more is there to say about the kind of elections held under the BJP regime in Tripura?”