ECI team holds meetings in Sepahijala to review by-poll preparations

A team of Election Commission of India (ECI) attended  a series of meetings with the poll officials of Tripura on Monday to review the preparations for the by-elections in two assembly constituencies.

The crucial by-elections will be held in 20-Boxanagar and23- Dhanpur assembly seats in Sepahijala district to be held on September 5.

The team led by Election Commission's Principal Secretary Arvind Anand held the review meetings at Sepahijala district headquarters.

Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Tripura, Puneet Agarwal, District Magistrate (DM) Vishal kumar and two other ECI officials -- Santosh Kumar Dubey (Secretary) and Ankur Matla (Assistant Section Officer) were present at the meetings, among others.

Official sources said that on Tuesday, the ECI team would hold a meeting with the District Magistrates of all the eight districts to discuss the special summary revision of the electoral rolls for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

The by-election to the Dhanpur assembly seat was necessitated after Union minister Pratima Bhoumik resigned, days after her election as a BJP candidate in February, 2023 assembly elections.

The Muslim-dominated Boxanagar assembly seat fell vacant after the death of sitting CPI(M) MLA Samsul Haque, who passed away on July 19, 2023 after a cardiac attack.

BJP candidates Tofajjal Husain from Boxanagar and Bindu Debnath from Dhanpur assembly constituencies contesting  the by-elections and CPI(M) candidates Kaushik Chanda from Dhanpur constituency, who was defeated by BJP candidate Pratima Bhowmik in last assembly elections and  Mizan Hussain, third son former MLA Samsul Haque contesting the by-polls from Boxanagar assembly seat.