Three-tier Gram Panchayat polls: Voting peacefully, 79.06 pc turnout, scattered incidents of violence

Amidst stray incident of violence and attacks on polling agents of rival political parties, the three-tier Gram Panchayat elections held across 35 blocks of Tripura passes off peacefully and 79.06 percent voter turnout being recorded till 4 PM, as per information from the State Election Commission (SEC).

Giving details, the Secretary of SEC, Asit Kumar Das said that voters were seen in queues in front of polling booths in many places and the final figures may vary.

The three-tier Gram Panchayat elections in Tripura began at 7 AM on Thursday amidst tight security  and among all blocks  only eight blocks reported that polling was completed by 4 PM.

Elections are not being held in a vast majority of the Panchayat areas in Tripura as the ruling BJP won 71 percent of the Gram Panchayat seats, 68 percent of the Panchayat Samiti seats, and 17 percent of the Zilla Parishad seats uncontested. In 2019, the BJP had won over 96 percent of the rural local body seats, including 86 percent of Gram Panchayat seats, without a contest.

The Tripura State Election Commission (SEC) officials said that 79.06 per cent of around 13 lakh electorate had exercised their franchise. There is no major incident of violence, except for a few minor ones and the voting was by and large peaceful in all the eight districts of the state, said Das.

A police official said that some incidents of intimidation, attacks on polling agents and wrongdoings were reported from Sepahijala, Gomati and South Tripura districts and the police immediately intervened in these incidents.

Speaking  with this reporter SEC official said that the state recorded 6.57 per cent voter turnout till 8 AM and the figures rose to 24.97 per cent at 10 AM and 44.01 per cent at noon. While the official claimed there were no reports of violence, local conflicts left an election agent of an Independent candidate injured at Dhanpur in Sepahijala district.

SEC officials said that re-poll would be conducted on August 10th in a polling station under Kumarghat block due to submission of wrong ballot papers.

Local BJP MLA Bindu Debnath was seen trying to talk to the voters and election agents in the Bhabanipur area of Sepahijala district amidst allegations that his followers had engaged in violence with election agents and voters of Independent candidates.

An election agent of an Independent candidate in the area said he tried to resist a senior BJP leader from registering a ‘chappa vote’ or false vote when the latter’s supporters allegedly assaulted him, leaving him with a broken nose and other injuries.

Meanwhile, reports of scattered violence came from South Tripura and Gomati districts where similar clashes between the ruling BJP and Independent candidates were also reported.

The Congress has alleged large-scale false voting and violence and claimed its election agents were denied entry into polling booths in many places.

The CPI(M) also made similar allegations and submitted a memorandum to Khowai District Magistrate Chandri Chandran, seeking her intervention into alleged incidents of poll violence, Opposition poll agents being denied entry into polling stations, and intimidation against opposition supporters.

MLA and senior CPI(M) leader Nirmal Biswas said his party apprised the administration of the ground situation and commented that the three-tier Panchayat election in Tripura was converted into a “festival of mockery” instead of a festival of democracy.

CPI(M) state secretary Jitendra Chaudhury addressing a press conference in Agartala congratulated the voters of the state for participating in the polling process by defying all fear and threats from the ruling party. Chaudhury appealed to SEC to verify all complaints lodged by opposition parties and should take appropriate steps  for re-poll, where complaints are raised against rigging by BJP.

State BJP chief spokesperson Subrata Chakraborty said their karyakartas encouraged people to participate in the election process. Chakraborty also expressed confidence in winning all seats that went to the polls and said that party is 100 percent sure to win rest of the seats of Gram Panchayat.

Amidst opposition parties’ allegations of pre-poll violence, intimidation and attacks, 4,550 out of the 6,370 seats in Gram Panchayat bodies were won by the BJP uncontested this year. Of the 1,819 seats that went to polls on Thursday, the BJP has put up candidates in 1,818, the CPI(M) in 1,222, the Congress in 731, and the Tipra-Motha in 138, apart from some Independent candidates.

Of the 423 Panchayat Samiti seats, 244 have been won uncontested. Of the 189 seats that went in for polling, the BJP has put up candidates in 188 seats, the CPI(M) in 148, the Congress in 98, and the Tipra-Motha in 11.

Meanwhile, 20 out of 116 Zilla Parishad seats went in favour of the BJP without contest and 96 seats went to polls, with 33 per cent reservation for women. The votes will be counted on August 12.

As per reports, 10,87,495 voters were eligible to cast their votes on Thursday, including 5,30,949 men, 5,20,101 women, and 10 from the third gender.

State Election Commissioner (SEC) Saradindu Chaudhuri said that to hold the elections peacefully, over 10,000 state security forces, including Tripura State Rifles (TSR) personnel and around 2,200 Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) personnel have been deployed.