Panchayat vote peaceful in state, tension in Kailasahar, Cong called Gournagar block bandh passed off peacefully

Protesting allocation of spots for gathering during counting of votes for Gram Panchayat elections, the opposition Congress on Saturday called 24-hours strike in Gournagar block under Unakoti district, which passed off peacefully without any untoward incident till evening.

On Friday evening, a large number of Congress supporters led by MLA Birajit Sinha gheraoed the district magistrate (DM) office of Unakoti district and staged massive protests after spots for gathering during counting of votes on August 12 have been allocated to ruling BJP.

Congress workers led by MLA Birjit Sinha and Unakoti district Congress Committee President Md. Badruzzaman, a large number of Congress party workers and supporters  continued their protest  by surrounding the DM office accusing the administration illegally allotting spots for  gatherings of BJP workers, which was scheduled to give Congress as per the decision taken by DM in all party meeting before August 8th Panchayat elections.

After Congress leaders were unable to meet the DM, they called the Bandh on Saturday.

Sources said that DM of Unakoti Dilip Kumar Chakma was not in office during the protest. As District Magistrate Dilip Chakma Chakma was not in office, the representatives of the Congress party discussed with Additional District Magistrate Argha Saha and did not get any solution.

Later, MLA Birajit Sinha and Md. Badruzzaman speaking with media persons said that minutes signed by the District Magistrate are given to each political party on the decision of the all-party meeting on August 6. In those minutes other decisions including selection of separate spots for different political parties at the counting center were announced and on August 9, after going to the allotted spot for the Congress party, it was found that the spots were illegally  given to the ruling party, alleged Sinha.

Later, they called for a 24-hour shutdown of the Gaurnagar block area on Sunday .

Sinha also alleged that the ruling BJP party had planned to cut off the electricity service during the counting and beat up the workers of the Congress party and throw them out of the counting center on the counting day of August 12. This time, from the very beginning of the announcement of the Gram Panchayat polls, the Congress protested against the counting center of Gaurnagar block. This year, for the first time, the counting center was shifted to Baidyanath Majumdar Smriti Higher Secondary School, ten kilometers away  from the city, by shifting the counting center from Radhakishor Institution in Kailashahar town and demanded allocation of same spot as per the decision taken in all party meeting. While, sources said that bandh passed off peacefully.