Guwahati: Numerous violent incidents have been reported across the state of Tripura as voting for assembly seats began at 7 am on Thursday.
According to preliminary reports, a party member of the CPI(M) was assaulted outside the Kalacherra polling place in the South Tripura district’s Shantirbaazar seat.
A source was quoted by The Indian Express as saying, “The victim was rushed to hospital by our officials though he was not able to tell the names of attackers. Officer in-charge of the local police station has gone out for search based on photographs available. Suo Motu FIR has been lodged in Shantirbaazar PS. We will arrest the culprits soon.”
This occurs as Tripura has a significant security presence and violence is anticipated in a fiercely contested state. In light of this, the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) had, prior to the election, enforced in Tripura Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) from 10 p.m. on February 13 to 6 a.m. on February 17.
Ahead of a hotly contested assembly election, CEO Kiran Gitte told the media during a press briefing that strict precautions were being implemented to avoid any negative law and order situations.
He said, “We have taken various steps to prevent any law and order issue. Before December around 100 companies of Central Armed Paramilitary Forces (CAPF) arrived in Tripura. Before the declaration of election another 100 companies arrived, while after the January 18, a further 200 companies arrived here which we have deployed across Tripura. Along with that we have more than 20, 000 police and TSR deployed for security purposes across the state.”
Additionally, the Chief Electoral Officer noted that less violent occurrences have occurred in Tripura this year compared to last year. He stated that there were around 309 such violent occurrences reported in 2018 but as of February 11th, Tripura had only officially recorded 100 violent incidents.