AGARTALA, April 20 - The Election Commission has decided to register FIRs against the presiding officers and micro observers deputed in eight polling booths of West Tripura LS seat where booth capturing had been confirmed.
The decision to take legal action against the erring polling personnel, presiding officers and micro observers has set alarm bells ringing ahead of election to the East Tripura Lok Sabha constituency.
Based on specific inputs, the Assistant Returning Officer (ARO) of Kakraban-Salghara AC today asked the officer in-charge of the Kakaraban Police Station to register a case under the Representation of People Act against Dilip Kumar Ghosh, who acted as the presiding officer of a polling booth, and Sishu Baran Chakma (an LIC official), micro observer for an Assembly segment.
Accordingly, a specific FIR was lodged at the Kakraban Police Station on Saturday, but no arrest has been made yet. However, the development has shaken the employees who acted as polling personnel and micro observers.
For the first time in the State�s electoral history, two polling agents of a party were arrested by the police for indulging in malpractices at a polling booth on April 11, the day when election to the West Tripura Parliamentary seat was held.
The arrested polling agents � one a tribal resident and the other a non-tribal person � worked at Booth No. 3 of Debipur Higher Secondary School under the Kamalasagar Assembly segment under the West Tripura Parliamentary seat.
During the election and in its immediate aftermath, the Opposition parties filed a lot of complaints about irregularities in the polling process and the Election Commission ordered a thorough examination of all video records, presiding officers� reports and other relevant documents.
An FIR was lodged against four persons for suspicious movement within the polling booth No. 35 located at the Chhechuria Senior Basic School on April 11.
Filing the complaint with the Sidhai Police Station in West Tripura district, the ARO on Saturday said that from scrutiny of webcasting records within the polling booth, it was clear that the four persons had been moving suspiciously within the polling booth when the voting process was on.
