Tripura Polls : CPI(M) Moves Supreme Court Alleging Violence By BJP; Seeks To Intervene In Trinmool Plea

The CPI(M), a major opposition party in Tripura, has approached the Supreme Court alleging violence by members of ruling BJP party to terrorize opposition party members amid the local body elections.

"The ruling political party workers and their sympathisers have been attacking the CPI(M) workers and sympathisers. They are being subjected to inexplicable and cruel violence. Many of them have lost their lives and property including residential houses. The offices of the Party are also attacked", read the application filed by the CPI(M) seeking to intervene in the writ petition filed by the Trinamool Congress.

The CPI(M) further alleged that the ruling party members are terrorizing the opposition party members.

"Information has been pouring from different poll bound ULBs and several wards of Agartala Municipal Council that large number of miscreants are intruding into those areas at the behest of ruling BJP and indulging into terrorizing the opposition supporters with dire consequences, with the threat not to move to the polling stations tomorrow on 25th November, 2021," it was submitted.

It was alleged in the application that at 4.00 pm on November 24, a group of 15-20 such miscreants barged into the house of Smriti Sarker, the CPI(M) candidate for Agartala Municipal Corporation and threatened her by openly demonstrating their firearms. The party said that though it has approached the DGP seeking action against miscreants, the acts of violence, threat and intimidation are going on.

A bench comprising Justices DY Chandrachud and Vikram Nath is considering the matter today. On the previous hearing date, November 23, the bench had turned down the plea made by Trinamool Congress to postpone the local body elections, scheduled to take place today. However, the bench issued a slew of directions to the DGP and IG (Law and Order) of Tripura to ensure that the polls take place in a peaceful manner. The Court asked the police to act in an "even handed" and "non-partisan" manner to assuage the grievances of the opposition members. The Court also directed the Tripura police to submit a chart today indicating the action taken on the complaints lodged by the Trinamool congress members.