A high-level team of Election Commission of India (ECI) led by Chief Election Commissioner A K Joti arrived in Agartala on Tuesday to review preparedness for the February 2018 Tripura assembly election.
During their two-day stay the ECI team would meet representatives of various political parties, officials of the state election department, state administration and police.
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The ECI had already started meeting with various political parties at the state guest house where most of the parties urged the ECI to ensure adequate security with a full-proof electoral roll before the elections.
BJP spokesman Dr. Ashok Sinha after meeting with the ECI team said, “Recently we have met the ECI team at Delhi and demanded for an extensive electoral roll revision besides central paramilitary force and adequate security so that voters can exercise their franchise without any fear. Today we have demanded preparation of error-free photo electoral rolls for all the 60 Assembly constituencies by using GPS (Global Positioning System) and to delete the false voters.”
Dr. Sinha accompanied by MLA Sudip Roy Barman and BJP vice president Subal Bhowmik informed that recently the Election Commission had conducted revision of electoral rolls of a booth at College Tilla under Banamalipur Assembly segment in which around 12 percent voters were found ‘fake’.
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However, the ruling CPI-M Central Committee member Gautam Das who led the three-member team after meeting the ECI said, “We informed the ECI team about the ploy of the opposition BJP who in connivance with the IPFT and INPT is trying to destabilize the peace in the state besides trying to defer the election date in the name of electoral revision hoping for implementation of President’s Rule so that they can come to power through the backdoors.”
The CEC, Election Commissioners Om Prakash Rawat and Sunil Arora, and Deputy Election Commissioner Sudeep Jain and other EC officials also held meetings with the state’s Chief Electoral Officer, DMs, SPs and security forces officials.
The five-year terms of the assemblies in Meghalaya, Nagaland and Tripura — with 60 seats each — will end on March 6, 13, and 14 respectively. Elections in the three states are likely to be held simultaneously in February next.