AGARTALA: Former chief minister of Tripura and CPI-M stalwart Manik Sarkar has asked the election commission to ensure free and fair polls in the state during the upcoming assembly elections.
The former Tripura CM said that alleged the election commission had set a bad precedent in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and the last by-elections.
Former chief minister of Tripura and CPI-M stalwart Manik Sarkar said that the people of the state could not vote freely in last elections.
Manik Sarkar’s remarks came prior to the scheduled arrival of the full bench of the election commission in Tripura to review preparedness for the assembly polls.
“You have set a bad precedent in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and by-elections to the four assembly constituencies in Tripura. Genuine voters could not exercise their franchise freely on these two occasions,” Sarkar said.
He alleged that when the CPI-M tried to highlight the “misconduct of the BJP” during last elections, “the election commission said they were not responsible for what happened outside polling stations and the police would look into such grievances”.
We want to remind your constitutional responsibility to ensure that electors can exercise their democratic rights without any fear or intimidation. You have to facilitate an environment so that the voting right of each elector is protected,” the CPI(M) leader said in an apparent reference to the EC.