Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Feb 16: A high 81.10 per cent turnout was recorded in polling for the 60-member Tripura State Assembly on Thursday despite some stray skirmishes between the supporters of various political parties, the Election Commission said.
Visuals from polling booths showed long queues as voters from all age groups set out to cast their vote. Polling authorities said a clash between supporters of the Left and the BJP had left a person injured. A case has been registered and the injured personal has been hospitalised, the authorities said.
Several Twitter handles, including the official state Congress unit, tagged the state electoral officer and tweeted that voters were being stopped from reaching the polling booths in several Assembly segments. The polling authorities responded that the complaints had been forwarded to officials concerned.
The CPI(M) leader and former Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar and TIPRA Motha chief Pradyot Bikram Manikya Deb Barman alleged that the “BJP miscreants” were indulged in violence in some parts of the State. “In some places, miscreants on behalf of (the) BJP are causing trouble and stopping people from casting their votes. But the people are trying their best to cast votes,” Mr. Sarkar said. The TIPRA chief alleged that “Dhanpur and Mohanpur have witnessed violence by the ruling party.” At least three people, including a CPI(M) leader and two polling agents of the Left party, were injured in separate incidents of violence during the polling.
The Election Commission of India confirmed that “one CPI(M) supporter” was “beaten outside Kalacherra polling station in 36-Shantirbaazar” in South Tripura district. “He was taken to hospital by our officials. He is not able to tell the names of attackers. Suo Motu FIR has been lodged in Shantirbaazar PS. We will arrest the culprits soon,” the Chief Election Officer (CEO), Tripura, said in a tweet.
The Chief Electoral Officer of Tripura on Thursday also issued notices to the state units of the Congress and the BJP as well as BJP national general secretary Dilip Saikia for seeking votes on Twitter when polling is underway in the north-eastern state.
The Election Commission said the tweets are violative of election law as they were made in the 48 hour “silence period” which began on Tuesday evening. They have been given an opportunity “to take corrective action at the earliest,” and have been asked to explain their stands for the violation by 5 pm on Friday.
Massive security deployment is in place in the State, where a triangular contest between the BJP, the Left Front-Congress combine and new entrant Tipra Motha is on the cards. Of these 60 seats, 20 straddling a tribal council are reserved for the State’s 19 Scheduled Tribes, while 10 are reserved for the Scheduled Castes.
All key leaders of the state expressed confidence about a good show by their respective parties. Chief Minister Manik Saha said he was positive about the results for the ruling BJP. Deb Barman, whose party is being seen as the X-factor in this election, said he was sure of a good show. The Union Home Minister Amit Shah had claimed that the BJP would emerge triumphant even with bigger margin than the 2018 elections.
For more than 30 years, Tripura was ruled by the CPM till the upset in 2018, when the BJP won 36 of the 60 seats in a state where it practically had no presence. Though the score pushed the BJP well above the majority mark of 31, it still formed alliance with regional IPFT (Indigenous Progressive Front of Tripura) – which got eight seats — as insurance against any defection by its MLAs.
The CPM, which ruled Tripura for 35 years, has joined forces with the Congress this time, and its campaign is being led by its four-time Chief Minister Manik Sarkar. The Left Front is contesting 47 of the state’s 60 seats, leaving just 13 seats for the Congress.
While the CPM won 16 seats in 2018, the Congress – main opposition in the previous assembly — drew a blank. The CPM is hoping that their alliance will help add votes in around 13 seats. But the alliance has raised eyebrows among the Kerala units of both parties where they have been sworn enemies for decades.
The Tipra Motha – the new party formed by the erstwhile royal family member Deb Barman with a core demand of Greater Tipraland — might queer the pitch for the BJP. While the BJP has the local party IPFT in its corner, its hold on some seats have loosened over the last five years. In 2021, IPFT was wiped out in the Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council polls and had to accept only five seats to contest in this election.
The BJP had initially attempted to build a rapport with the Tipra Motha, but its overtures were met with rebuff. After the BJP declared that it would not allow any division of Tripura, the Tipra Motha also hardened its stand, flinging Union minister Amit Shah’s allegation of its being the “B Team of CPM-Congress” back at the BJP.
“The BJP is a B-Team in Nagaland. In Meghalaya, Shillong and Garo Hills, they are a B-Team of some other party. You’re a B-Team of another party in Mizoram. In Tamil Nadu, you are the B-Team of the AIADMK. In Punjab, you are the B-Team of the Akali Dal. BJP is the B-team of many parties in India. Tipra Motha does not bow down or compromise,” said Mr Deb Barman whose party is contesting on 42 seats.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, the BJP’s points-person in the northeast, has predicted a hugely improved performance by the party in all three north-eastern states that are going to polls in this round. Elections are due in Meghalaya and Nagaland on February 27. Counting of votes will be held on March 2.
Deb Barman rejected the BJP’s allegations of his Tipra Motha having a “tacit understanding” with the Congress-CPM alliance and said his loyalty lies only with his supporters. He told media persons that he has old friends in many parties, including the Congress, and he had been greeting them whenever he met them during poll meetings.
Asked if such meetings were indications of any political understanding as alleged by the BJP, he replied, “I am the king of my own world. I don’t have to listen to (BJP chief JP) Nadda ji, I don’t have to listen to Sonia ji, I have to listen to my inner voice. I am an independent leader of my own party. I don’t have to go by the diktats by what the Home Minister says or what Congress president Kharge ji says. I am going to go with what my heart says. It is my personal decision. I do not have to listen to any orders.”
In the run-up to the election, Tipra Motha had held discussions with the BJP on forging an alliance, but the talks hit an impasse over the separate state demand. Asked which party he would side with it if the multi-cornered poll fight throws up a hung result, he said he would not budge from his party’s core demand.
He also alleged that a BJP MLA had entered one of the polling booths and had tried to snatch voters’ identity cards. “This is normal, they did this in the Lok Sabha (polls), but I don’t think you can intimidate 2.2 million people,” he said.