Three-tier security is in place for the counting of votes for over 200 seats in the Agartala Municipal Corporation (AMC) and other civic bodies in Tripura, where it was held on Thursday amid court cases, arrests, and allegations of attacks by political parties, a senior police official said on Saturday. The counting will be held on Sunday and apart from the scheduled security deployment, Tripura State Rifles and central armed police force have been deployed for the maintenance of law and order in areas adjoining the counting centers, he said.
A statement issued by the Assistant Inspector General of Police (law and order) Subrata Chakrabarty also appealed to the people to be wary of any kind of rumors.
“The counting of votes in connection with General Election to the Municipal and Nagar Panchayat, 2021 for 6 Nagar Panchayats, 7 Municipal Council and the Agartala Municipal Corporation will be conducted in 13 counting centers all over the state. In this regard, adequate police arrangement has been made for each counting center.
For maintenance of law & order during the counting of votes, a three-tier security arrangement has been made for each counting center by deploying CAPF as well as State Police and Tripura State Rifles”, a statement issued by Chakraborty said.
Altogether there are 334 seats in the urban local bodies, including Agartala Municipal Corporation (51 wards), 13 municipal councils, and six Nagar panchayats in the state. The ruling BJP has fielded candidates in all seats in the Tripura civic elections and has already won 112 out of the total 334 seats uncontested in the Agartala Municipal Corporation and 19 urban bodies.
In the remaining 222 seats, as many as 785 contestants are in the fray after 36 candidates withdrew their nominations. The elections were fought mainly between the three parties - the BJP, the TMC, and CPI(M).
TMC has demanded total countermanding of the election alleging that it was "heavily rigged and reduced to a farce" by the ruling BJP. Opposition CPI-M has demanded countermanding of elections in five wards of AMC.
Both the parties alleged that police and the state election commission had remained silent spectators despite complaints of rigging by "goons sheltered by BJP".
Meanwhile, BJP spokesperson Nabendu Bhattacharya in a statement said the party's leaders held detailed discussions on the role of party karyakartas in connection with the counting and the situation after it.
“Party karyakartas were asked to maintain discipline and to act as per the directions of the state leaders and should follow the organizational tradition after the announcement of the results”, Bhattacharya said in a statement.
