Guwahati: The Chief Election Commission of India has received a letter from the opposition CPIM in Tripura asking a high-level investigation into an alleged covert meeting between the Union Home Minister and the state’s DGP and election authority.
In a letter to the CEC, CPIM state committee secretary Jitendra Chaudhury alleged, “Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi made a serious allegation that the Union Home Minister Amit Shah during his visit in Tripura exclusively for the election campaign, secretly met a batch of top officials of police administration including DGP of the state and the Election Department on February 11 night. At a time, when all the stakeholders including the electors in general are very much worried about a violence-free fair poll, such a secret meeting just 3 days before the poll date violating the electoral norms has furthered apprehension whether any blueprint has been chalked out in this secret meeting to manipulate the election by any means.”
He further said, “I strongly request you to order a high-level investigation on this allegation and in the event, any prima-face reveals in the investigation, first remove the officials from election duty and then departmental proceedings may be drawn against the alleged officials”.
On the other side, the deployment of police from Gujarat and Assam in Tripura, where assembly elections are planned for February 16, has prompted worries from the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPIM).
Raising objections to the deployment of police forces of Gujarat and Assam, CPI(M) Polit Bureau Member, Nilotpal Basu submitted a letter to the Election Commission of India (ECI) in this regard.
Only central paramilitary forces should be deployed, according to the party’s demands.