The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to postpone the Tripura municipal polls and suggested the state to consider deployment of additional forces. The Supreme Court dismissed a petition filed by the Trinamool Congress seeking postponement of local body polls in Tripura in view of incidents of violence.
“Postponing elections is a matter of last and extreme recourse,” the top court said while pointing out that the poll process has already begun. The apex court directed Tripura DGP and home secretary to submit their statement on the arrangements put in place to ensure free and fair municipal elections in the violence-hit state.
The Supreme Court’s direction comes on the final day of campaigning for the elections, which will be held on 25 November. It further asked the BJP government to brief whether one of its MLAs made inflammatory statement in the presence of CM Biplab Deb as alleged by the Trinamool Congress.
It was hearing the plea by TMC seeking contempt action against the Tripura government and others for failing to curtail violent incidents against opposition parties in the run up to the upcoming local body polls. TMC had alleged that its leaders were being attacked and not allowed to campaign for the elections.
A bench of Justices D.Y. Chandrachud and A.S. Bopanna directed the state to brief the court by afternoon on how to ensure free and fair elections and prevent untoward incidents until the results are declared. On 11 November, the top court had directed the Tripura government to ensure that no political party including TMC, in the fray for local body polls of the state, is prevented from pursuing electoral rights in accordance with law and from campaigning in a peaceful and orderly manner.
The local body election process commenced on 22 October after the notification and polling will take place on 25 November. Polling for a municipal corporation, thirteen Municipal Councils and six Nagar Panchayats in the Tripura will be held on 25 November.
The TMC had earlier alleged that several people sustained injuries after an attack on the residence of Trinamool Congress Tripura unit’s Steering Committee chief Subal Bhowmik in Bhagaban Thakur Chowmuni area of Agartala on Sunday. Union Minister Pratima Bhoumik on Monday alleged that more than a thousand people from West Bengal were brought in Tripura, by TMC, to create unrest in the state. “What is the situation in Bengal? BJP Karyakartas are spending their days in uncertainty in Bengal after the Trinamool Congress once again came to power. Lakhs of people could not return to their houses after the Assembly elections ended in the state. The modesty of many women BJP supporters had been outraged by the goons of Trinamool,” she said. Bhoumik also accused poll strategist Prashant Kishore-led IPAC of spreading fake and fabricated information and videos that are against the interest of the people of the state. BJP and TMC are at loggerheads in Tripura where the latter is attempting to set its foothold challenging the ruling government.
Meanwhile, a delegation of Trinamool Congress (TMC) MPs on Monday met Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi over the alleged police brutality in Tripura. On Monday, a total of 16 TMC MPs including Derek O’Brien, Sukhendu Sekhar Roy, Santanu Sen and Mala Roy arrived at the party office in Delhi and held a protest outside the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) over the Tripura police incident.