AGARTALA, April 22 - Taking a lesson from the polling of West Tripura Parliamentary constituency, the under-fire State Election panel has vowed to conduct the voting for East Tripura Lok Sabha seat in a free, fair and peaceful manner.
�We want to hold the voting for East Tripura Parliamentary elections in a more free, fair and peaceful way than what has happened in the polling of West Tripura constituency�, CEO Sriram Tarinikanta told the media here Monday.
Out of the total 1,641 polling booths, CRPF jawans would be deployed in 85 per cent of polling booths�, he said.
The CEO�s statement assumes significance keeping in mind the Opposition parties� demand for repolling in several polling booths of West Tripura Lok Sabha constituency held on April 11.
The CEO has appealed to the voters to come to the booths and exercise their democratic right without any fear or threats. �The Election Commission will ensure your safety�, he said, adding that an alert has been sounded in the poll-bound areas to keep the trouble makers at bay.
Tarinikanta also asked the polling personnel, candidates and political parties: �You do your duty to safeguard the country�s electoral process. If anybody wants to disrupt the elections, he or she, irrespective of stature and political affiliations will face legal action�, he said.
Altogether 12,61,876 voters are eligible to exercise their democratic rights to decide the fate of eight candidates contesting in East Tripura Lok Sabha seat. But the battle will be confined between the ruling BJP and the Congress. For East Tripura Parliamentary constituency, law and order is a serious matter as election was deferred on security ground. The polling which was supposed to take place on April 18 is now slated for April 23.
Assembly segments falling under East Parliamentary seat were severely affected due to the decade-long insurgency from 1997 to 2005. However, the situation has improved in these areas over the past five years with the outlawed groups coming to the negotiation table.
