ECI assures of free, fair, violence-free poll in Tripura: CEC Rajiv Kumar

The Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar on January 12 stated that the Election Commission of India (ECI) is committed and duty-bound to conduct a free, fair, inducement-free, and violence-free election in Tripura.

The 15-member delegation team of ECI arrived on January 11 and said that they have taken all measures for a peaceful election so that voters can join the festival of democracy and if a voter faces any threat or intimidation on the day of polling, they can use cVigil app to inform the election authorities.

“We arrived here yesterday and held a meeting with all politicians, enforcement agencies, police, officials, and District Magistrates. We are determined and duty-bound to have a free, fair, transparent, inducement-free, and violence-free election. And cooperation is needed.  We have 60 seats among these 30 general, 10 are Scheduled Cast, and 20 are Scheduled Tribes. The total number of electors are 28, 13, 478. While 65, 000 are first-time voters”, he said.

He also claimed that there are 3328 polling stations including 707 in urban and 2621 in rural.

Kumar said that this time Commission has taken special efforts to enroll women, transgender, and PwDs.

“60 polling stations will be run by women only including presiding officer, polling officers, and security too. 10 polling stations will be run by PwDs just to give them respect and to empower them”, the chief election commissioner said.

He said randomization of forces will be done in front of the polling observers.  So that the forces are utilized effectively, optimally, and in all the areas wherever it will be required.

“Even the local administration officials and police administration will also be involved. We have held a detailed meeting with the officials of State police, excise department, GST, revenue intelligence, CISF, income tax, narcotics, AAI, Postal, BSF, and Assam Rifles as they all are part and parcel of violence-free election”, he said.

The commission has also reviewed the concern that political parties have raised and later discussed them with District Magistrates, the Superintendent of Police, and central agencies and they were directed accordingly.

“In some states, you will find pre-poll, post-poll, and during-poll violence is taking place but in recent polls, no violence had taken place. So our attempt will be to completely make the rest of the state free from violence during the poll. We have taken some measures and directed all the District Election Officers, and SPs to provide a level playing field and nobody should do a partisan approach to any individual. They will be on our radar, if they do so they have been well explained they will have to account for and answer for this. District administration will ensure to provide all the benefits like vehicles, grounds to all the political parties following a system and permission required”, Kumar told reporters on January 12.

The Commission has ensured that CAPF will be deployed in all the polling stations, in all check posts and in all routes, and in all critical areas.

Political parties have raised concerns about the safety of candidates and polling agents so we have directed DMs, and SPs to ensure their safety. We have decided 50 percent of booths will be covered with webcasting and we will also try to cover all the booths with webcasting. We have instructed all the DEOs that if any agency which hired and later the cameras of webcasting didn’t work to ensure action. I believe they will select such persons who are not amenable to local pressures”, the official said.

This time the commission has decided to deploy three-tier security in all the warehouses wherever EVMs will be stored. It will be covered by CAPF then Tripura State Rifles and Tripura Police.

“At night no campaigning and no meeting shall take place as we have received some complaints and directed the police and civil administration to ensure it. We have directed all the enforcement agencies toward the distribution of freebies. The overall assessment by the Central agencies, DMs, and SPs is really re-ensuring.